ForTen 3000

cover the world

tm
ForTen 3000
cover the world
tm
ForTen 3000
cover the world
tm
User Manual
Release R 2.0
by Gerry D'Anza
IXForTen 4000 users guide based on version 2.0.x
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All rights reserved. No parts of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means - graphic, electronic, or
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written permission of the publisher.
Products that are referred to in this document may be either trademarks and/or registered trademarks of the
respective owners. The publisher and the author make no claim to these trademarks.
While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this document, the publisher and the author
assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of information
contained in this document or from the use of programs and source code that may accompany it. In no event
shall the publisher and the author be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage caused or
alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this document.
Printed: ottobre 2010 in Naples (Italy)
ixForTen 4000
2010 Gerry D'Anza
Publisher
Special thanks to:
Many Thanks to My Wife Rita and my Son Andrea that leave me
work at any hour and any day with a huge amount of patience
Managing Editor
Technical Editors
Cover Designer
TSI s.r.l
Gerry D'Anza
Loredana Di Benedetto
Shehzad Irani
Gerry D'Anza
Production
TSI s.r.l.
Architecture & engineering
Team Coordinator
Gerry D'Anza
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Table of Contents
Foreword 11
Part I Introduction 13
................................................................................................................................... 13 1 Where do I begin ?
.......................................................................................................................................................... 14 Project Setup
.......................................................................................................................................................... 16 Model Setup
.......................................................................................................................................................... 17 Form Finding
.......................................................................................................................................................... 18 Analysis
................................................................................................................................... 18 2 FAQ
.......................................................................................................................................................... 18 What are tensile structures?
.......................................................................................................................................................... 20 After Form Find I dont see anything. What Happens ?
.......................................................................................................................................................... 20 I am not able to find desired shape. What can I do ?
.......................................................................................................................................................... 21 What loads are acting on the structure?
.......................................................................................................................................................... 22 How to calculate wind loads from Wind speed ?
.......................................................................................................................................................... 24 How can I add a mast with stay cables ?
.......................................................................................................................................................... 24 Analysis stops with a message MATRIX Error . What to do ?
.......................................................................................................................................................... 26 How do I add fixed length links ?
.......................................................................................................................................................... 26 How can I check if pre-stresses are Ok ?
.......................................................................................................................................................... 28 I am not able to cut the surface. What to do ?
.......................................................................................................................................................... 28 How to I calculate compensation ?
.......................................................................................................................................................... 29 How can I check if patterns are correct ?
................................................................................................................................... 30 3 Modelling Fabric Structures
.......................................................................................................................................................... 31 Form Finding
.......................................................................................................................................................... 31 Static Non linear Analysis
.......................................................................................................................................................... 32 Patterning
................................................................................................................................... 32 4 Application Interface
Part II Fabric Structure FormFinding35
................................................................................................................................... 35 1 Groups
................................................................................................................................... 37 2 Nodes
................................................................................................................................... 39 3 Linear elements
.......................................................................................................................................................... 39 Linear Element Properties
......................................................................................................................................................... 43 Seeds or Named properties
......................................................................................................................................... 43 Cross Section
......................................................................................................................................... 44 Material
Part III Structural Analysis with ixForTen 4000 48
................................................................................................................................... 53 1 Newton Raphson
................................................................................................................................... 54 2 Newton Raphson Modified
................................................................................................................................... 55 3 Incremental Method
................................................................................................................................... 55 4 Incremental Iterative method
................................................................................................................................... 56 5 Static Nonlinear Analysis
.......................................................................................................................................................... 56 Loading the structure
......................................................................................................................................................... 58 Add Load
......................................................................................................................................... 59 Nodal Loads
......................................................................................................................................... 60 Cable-Beam loads
......................................................................................................................................... 61 Pressure loads
......................................................................................................................................... 62 Vector loads
......................................................................................................................................... 63 Thermal loads
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.......................................................................................................................................................... 63 Add Self Weight
.......................................................................................................................................................... 64 Add Stress Multiplier
.......................................................................................................................................................... 64 Add Zero Load
.......................................................................................................................................................... 64 Creating Load Cases
.......................................................................................................................................................... 66 Running the analysis
.......................................................................................................................................................... 67 Viewing Results
Part IV Patterning with ixForten 4000 72
................................................................................................................................... 72 1 Patterning
................................................................................................................................... 73 2 The Patterner Module
.......................................................................................................................................................... 75 Cutting The surface
......................................................................................................................................................... 78 Single Cutter
......................................................................................................................................................... 79 Multi Cutter
......................................................................................................................................................... 80 Helpers
......................................................................................................................................................... 82 Importing selection & cutting curves
.......................................................................................................................................................... 82 Make Patterns
......................................................................................................................................................... 84 Making Patterns
......................................................................................................................................................... 86 Changing Pattern parameters
......................................................................................................................................................... 86 Compensating
......................................................................................................................................................... 88 Of f sets & Markers
......................................................................................................................................................... 91 Flip upside down
......................................................................................................................................................... 91 Notes on patterning
.......................................................................................................................................................... 92 Production
......................................................................................................................................................... 93 Detailing pane
......................................................................................................................................................... 93 Pattern welding of f sets pane
......................................................................................................................................................... 95 Pattern Compensation Pane
......................................................................................................................................................... 97 Edge Decompensation
......................................................................................................................................................... 99 Layout
......................................................................................................................................................... 101 Decimation Pane
......................................................................................................................................................... 102 Export Pane
......................................................................................................................................................... 102 Option Pane
......................................................................................................................................... 103 Layout
......................................................................................................................................... 105 Text Pane
......................................................................................................................................... 107 Colors
Part V Structure of the software 110
................................................................................................................................... 110 1 Main Groups
................................................................................................................................... 111 2 Entity Specification
.......................................................................................................................................................... 112 Nodes
.......................................................................................................................................................... 113 Structural Entities
.......................................................................................................................................................... 115 Boundary entities
.......................................................................................................................................................... 116 2D Pattern entities
.......................................................................................................................................................... 116 Special Graphical entities
.......................................................................................................................................................... 117 Graphical entities
Part VI Modeler 119
................................................................................................................................... 119 1 File Menu
.......................................................................................................................................................... 119 New
.......................................................................................................................................................... 119 Open
.......................................................................................................................................................... 119 Import
.......................................................................................................................................................... 121 Last opened Files
.......................................................................................................................................................... 121 Save
.......................................................................................................................................................... 121 Save As
.......................................................................................................................................................... 121 Save as Template
.......................................................................................................................................................... 122 Export
.......................................................................................................................................................... 122 Export Strand
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.......................................................................................................................................................... 123 Capture View
.......................................................................................................................................................... 123 Exit
................................................................................................................................... 123 2 Create
.......................................................................................................................................................... 123 Quad Surface
.......................................................................................................................................................... 126 Cone Surface
.......................................................................................................................................................... 128 Cushion
.......................................................................................................................................................... 129 Cushion_grid
.......................................................................................................................................................... 130 Edge Element
.......................................................................................................................................................... 130 Project to surface
.......................................................................................................................................................... 130 Boundary Group
.......................................................................................................................................................... 131 Tenso Group
.......................................................................................................................................................... 132 Graphic Group
.......................................................................................................................................................... 132 Copy selected to new Tenso
.......................................................................................................................................................... 133 Copy selected to current tenso group
.......................................................................................................................................................... 133 Line
.......................................................................................................................................................... 133 Poly line
.......................................................................................................................................................... 133 Polygon
.......................................................................................................................................................... 134 Circle CR
.......................................................................................................................................................... 134 Circle 3P
.......................................................................................................................................................... 134 Triangle
.......................................................................................................................................................... 135 Footings
................................................................................................................................... 139 3 Edit
.......................................................................................................................................................... 139 Undo
.......................................................................................................................................................... 139 Conical Control
.......................................................................................................................................................... 140 Check clean invalid objects
.......................................................................................................................................................... 140 Change Behaviour
.......................................................................................................................................................... 141 Flip orientation
.......................................................................................................................................................... 142 Move
.......................................................................................................................................................... 142 Rotate
.......................................................................................................................................................... 142 Weld
.......................................................................................................................................................... 142 Join A to B
.......................................................................................................................................................... 143 Delete
................................................................................................................................... 143 4 Select
.......................................................................................................................................................... 144 Selection A-B
.......................................................................................................................................................... 144 Clear
.......................................................................................................................................................... 144 All
.......................................................................................................................................................... 144 Single / Painting
.......................................................................................................................................................... 144 Window
.......................................................................................................................................................... 145 Fence / poly select
.......................................................................................................................................................... 145 Circle
.......................................................................................................................................................... 145 Warp
.......................................................................................................................................................... 145 Weft
.......................................................................................................................................................... 145 Filter
.......................................................................................................................................................... 146 Property
.......................................................................................................................................................... 148 Child / Tenso / Boundary
................................................................................................................................... 148 5 Tensile Structure
.......................................................................................................................................................... 148 Form Find
.......................................................................................................................................................... 150 Pneumatic Options
.......................................................................................................................................................... 152 Save as reference state
.......................................................................................................................................................... 152 Reload reference state
.......................................................................................................................................................... 153 Non Linear Analysis
.......................................................................................................................................................... 154 Animate
.......................................................................................................................................................... 154 Check DOFS
.......................................................................................................................................................... 154 Check Model
................................................................................................................................... 155 6 Tables
.......................................................................................................................................................... 155 Data Base Explorer
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......................................................................................................................................................... 156 Material DataBase
......................................................................................................................................................... 159 Section DataBase
......................................................................................................................................................... 163 Seed (Named property) DataBase
.......................................................................................................................................................... 166 Show Materials and Sections
................................................................................................................................... 166 7 Loading
.......................................................................................................................................................... 167 Add load condition
.......................................................................................................................................................... 167 Add self-weight condition
.......................................................................................................................................................... 168 Add Pre-stress condition
.......................................................................................................................................................... 168 Add Zero-Load condition
.......................................................................................................................................................... 168 Add Load
......................................................................................................................................................... 168 Nodal loads
......................................................................................................................................................... 169 Cable-Beam loads
......................................................................................................................................................... 170 Pressure loads
......................................................................................................................................................... 170 Vector loads
......................................................................................................................................................... 171 Thermal loads
................................................................................................................................... 172 8 Info
.......................................................................................................................................................... 172 Project info
.......................................................................................................................................................... 172 Report Manager
......................................................................................................................................................... 175 Model Item
......................................................................................................................................... 175 Nodes
......................................................................................................................................... 176 Elements
................................................................................................................................... 176 Cables
................................................................................................................................... 177 Steel
................................................................................................................................... 177 Membrane
................................................................................................................................... 178 Membrane Mesh
......................................................................................................................................... 178 Seeds
................................................................................................................................... 179 Materials
................................................................................................................................... 179 Cross Sections
......................................................................................................................................... 180 Load Conditions
......................................................................................................................................................... 180 Bill of Materials
......................................................................................................................................... 180 Membrane Area
......................................................................................................................................... 181 Cable List
......................................................................................................................................... 182 Steel List
......................................................................................................................................................... 182 FF Response
......................................................................................................................................... 182 Pretension Reactions
......................................................................................................................................... 183 FF El.Results
................................................................................................................................... 183 FF Membrane-Cable-Steel
................................................................................................................................... 184 FF Tri-Mesh
......................................................................................................................................................... 184 Analysis Response
......................................................................................................................................... 184 Node Displacements
.......................................................................................................................................................... 185 Query Distance
.......................................................................................................................................................... 185 Selected Objects
.......................................................................................................................................................... 186 Form Find Info
.......................................................................................................................................................... 186 Analysis Info
................................................................................................................................... 187 9 Visibility
.......................................................................................................................................................... 187 Hide/show Nodes
.......................................................................................................................................................... 188 Hide/Show Entities
.......................................................................................................................................................... 188 Hide/Show Mesh
.......................................................................................................................................................... 188 Hide Selected
.......................................................................................................................................................... 188 Hide Not-Selected
.......................................................................................................................................................... 188 Flip Visible/Hidden
.......................................................................................................................................................... 188 Un Hide
................................................................................................................................... 189 10 UCS
.......................................................................................................................................................... 189 UCS Store/Recall
.......................................................................................................................................................... 189 UCS World
.......................................................................................................................................................... 189 UCS Vertical 2 Points
.......................................................................................................................................................... 189 UCS Generic
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.......................................................................................................................................................... 190 UCS Place
.......................................................................................................................................................... 190 UCS Normal X
.......................................................................................................................................................... 190 UCS Normal Y
................................................................................................................................... 190 11 Scripting
................................................................................................................................... 190 12 Settings
.......................................................................................................................................................... 191 Preferences
......................................................................................................................................................... 191 Editor Pane
......................................................................................................................................................... 193 Patterner Pane
......................................................................................................................................................... 194 Metrics Pane
......................................................................................................................................................... 196 Miscellaneous Pane
......................................................................................................................................................... 197 Auto Save Pane
......................................................................................................................................................... 198 Precision Pane
......................................................................................................................................................... 200 HPGL Pane
......................................................................................................................................................... 201 Units Pane
......................................................................................................................................................... 202 Form Finder Pane
......................................................................................................................................................... 203 Report Setup Pane
.......................................................................................................................................................... 205 Dark UI
.......................................................................................................................................................... 205 Plastique UI
.......................................................................................................................................................... 205 Windows UI
................................................................................................................................... 206 13 Toolbar
................................................................................................................................... 206 14 Help
.......................................................................................................................................................... 207 License Key
.......................................................................................................................................................... 207 Contents
.......................................................................................................................................................... 207 ForTen On the Web
.......................................................................................................................................................... 207 About
................................................................................................................................... 207 15 Views
.......................................................................................................................................................... 208 Set Layout
.......................................................................................................................................................... 208 Render Shaded/Wireframe
.......................................................................................................................................................... 208 Zoom Limits
.......................................................................................................................................................... 208 Zoom current
.......................................................................................................................................................... 209 Zoom selected
.......................................................................................................................................................... 209 Zoom window
.......................................................................................................................................................... 209 Hide/Unhide Grid
.......................................................................................................................................................... 209 Align to UCS
.......................................................................................................................................................... 209 Maximize/Minimize
.......................................................................................................................................................... 209 Change background
................................................................................................................................... 210 16 Plot options
.......................................................................................................................................................... 211 Plot Options Pane
.......................................................................................................................................................... 214 Plot Options Labels
.......................................................................................................................................................... 216 Response Plot
Part VII Properties Tab 227
Part VIII Browser Menu Commands 234
................................................................................................................................... 234 1 Root Commands
.......................................................................................................................................................... 234 Create Group
.......................................................................................................................................................... 236 Form Finding
.......................................................................................................................................................... 236 Analysis
.......................................................................................................................................................... 237 Reports
.......................................................................................................................................................... 238 FEM Export
................................................................................................................................... 238 2 Common Local Commands
................................................................................................................................... 240 3 Boundary Local Commands
.......................................................................................................................................................... 240 Boundary
.......................................................................................................................................................... 242 Find Parts
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.......................................................................................................................................................... 242 Tenso Groups
.......................................................................................................................................................... 243 Modify
.......................................................................................................................................................... 244 Extended Export
......................................................................................................................................................... 244 Win Rete
......................................................................................................................................................... 244 DXF Polylines
......................................................................................................................................................... 244 WaveFront Obj
.......................................................................................................................................................... 244 Import
................................................................................................................................... 245 4 Tenso Local Commands
.......................................................................................................................................................... 245 Set Frame as Current UCS
.......................................................................................................................................................... 246 Make boundary Edge
.......................................................................................................................................................... 246 Make Mesh
.......................................................................................................................................................... 248 Make Iso Curves
.......................................................................................................................................................... 248 Make Section at UCS
.......................................................................................................................................................... 249 Mesh Parameters
......................................................................................................................................................... 250 Grid Mesh Parameters
......................................................................................................................................................... 251 Conical Mesh Parameters
.......................................................................................................................................................... 254 Make Grid/Polar Mesh
.......................................................................................................................................................... 254 Extended Export
......................................................................................................................................................... 254 Winrete Format
......................................................................................................................................................... 254 Wave Front obj
................................................................................................................................... 254 5 Patterns Local Commands
.......................................................................................................................................................... 254 Export HPGL
Part IX Step by Step Tutorials 256
................................................................................................................................... 256 1 Simple Saddle Shape
.......................................................................................................................................................... 256 Setup
.......................................................................................................................................................... 257 Step 3: Zooming & Panning
.......................................................................................................................................................... 258 Step 4 :Node properties
.......................................................................................................................................................... 259 Step 5 : Checking Dimensions.
.......................................................................................................................................................... 260 Step 6 : Find Parts
.......................................................................................................................................................... 260 Step 7 : Meshing
.......................................................................................................................................................... 262 Step 8 : Element properties
.......................................................................................................................................................... 264 Step 9 : Form Finding
.......................................................................................................................................................... 265 Step 10 : Query Results
.......................................................................................................................................................... 272 Step 11 : Printed Reports
.......................................................................................................................................................... 273 Step 11 : Scale Factors
Part X Video Tutorials 277
................................................................................................................................... 277 1 N1 : Simple Saddle shape
................................................................................................................................... 277 2 N2 : Making a pagoda
................................................................................................................................... 277 3 N3 : Model a cone in 3 steps
................................................................................................................................... 277 4 N4 : Model mangement
................................................................................................................................... 277 5 N5 : Making a vault model
................................................................................................................................... 277 6 N6 : Making a double cone
................................................................................................................................... 277 7 N7 : Adding steel support
................................................................................................................................... 277 8 N8 : Using Gaps
................................................................................................................................... 278 9 N9 :Example of nonlinear analysis
.......................................................................................................................................................... 278 Wind Load Analysis
.......................................................................................................................................................... 280 Cp factors
.......................................................................................................................................................... 281 Loading the model
.......................................................................................................................................................... 281 Analysis & Results
................................................................................................................................... 282 10 N10:Patterning a saddle shape
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................................................................................................................................... 282 11 N11:Patterning A cone
................................................................................................................................... 282 12 No12: Making a hexagonal headring
Part XI Bibliography 284
Index 0
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Part
I
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Introduction
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1 Introduction
ixForTen 4000 is the new system developed over For
Ten 3000 and 2000 for the design, structural analysis and
pattern making of tensiles, membranes and cable nets.
After 20 years of work thousands of tensile structures
have been built world wide using our system and we are
proud to say that the community is growing day by day.
Our slogan is quite simple "Your success is our
success" since we believe in teamwork and strong
relationship between users of a software and who
develops it - Welcome - to our world of endless
possibilities.
Thanks to All
Gerry D'Anza Architect
For Ten developer manager
1.1 Where do I begin ?
If this is the first time you are looking at the software
don't get scared by all the options and parameters seen
in the interface. Most of them are for advanced, special
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features, and if you don't understand them all at the
beginning, do not worry, go ahead to make your first
Membrane, keep it simple, do not add the steel work or
supporting structure in the beginning to avoid
complicating your work.
Look at the video tutorials to have a clear idea on how
the system works.
ForTen is a software developed in 15 years and cannot
get learned in 10 minutes but surely you will be able to
make your first model in a short time after looking at the
videos.
If you are already a ForTen owner - then you can be re-
assured that this is the fastest, most-stable,accurate and
yet the easiest to learn ForTen ever! Dispensing off with
the earlier user interface of 2000 and 3000 - ixForten
comes with a completely fresh and versatile platform
that makes re-sizing, ordering and flexibility a new way
of working. This interface still maintains some of the
earlier features - so previous users are comfortable - but
this comes with a brand-new shell. Also - the solvers, the
mesh creation and the interface is more powerful than
ever before. Check out the new features.
1.1.1 Project Setup
If you are using this system for the first time follow these
simple steps and avoid loosing a huge amount of time in
attempt to find a way to make a model. Tensile Structure
design is a complex task by itself so a initial planning will
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help to avoid mistakes.
Some basic suggestions for making quick
models:
a) Make a sketch on your idea on paper
b)Keep the system simple - and then build it up. Don't put
all links, tensile elements, fabrics and steel at one go.
c) Draw in a Cad system the boundary of your model,
made of simple 3d lines. Avoid using splines and
curves as much as possible, as they eventually get
converted to lines when they are imported into For
Ten. The end points of these lines will be the fixed
nodes for the final model. In the cad file draw any help
graphic entity and any structure element taking care to
organize them in layers.
d) Have a rough idea of materials and their cross
sections you are going to use, type of membrane,
steel,wood or concrete parts, and import the same
before you start your model.
e) If you are creating new materials - check if the units
are in co-relation with your model - or you may result
with a very stiff / very flexible member.
f) Always draw near the global origin (0,0,0). These
prevents problems in round off errors when running
non-linear analysis. Drawing near the origin also
keeps the co-ordinates small, the equations smaller
and eventually reduces the overall calculation time.
This also helps the graphics to run faster - and
speeding up the overall response time of the software.

g) Since For Ten DEFAULT parameters are based on
meters and Kg, we suggest to keep these units in the
beginning. The system can use any units but the user
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has to set all variables accordingly, so to avoid
mistakes while in a learning phase keep it simple. Use
meters and daN , when you feel comfortable with the
software you can set up your desired units.
Next step
1.1.2 Model Setup
Now that you have a clear idea of the model
a) Import the Cad file from File -> Import Cad option the
button looks like this
b)choose appropriate groups for each layer in the CAD
File. If not sure what to use, import minimal data, you
can always add later new groups to your work adding
complexity to the model in sequential way. At least one
boundary poly-line has to be imported.
c) Call the data base explorer and import in the
model the seeds (material+section ) you want to use
(membrane,cables steel tubes)
d) From the local popup menu of the boundary call the
find parts command.
e) A first check of errors is simple, the number of Tenso-
Groups under the boundary has to be equal to the
number of closed regions. If this is not true there is a
problem in the boundary with pending elements or
not-closed poly lines. The weld tool can help to fix
these.
f) Call the command Boundary: Tenso Groups : Set
Params & Build
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g) Select Boundary entities and assign property data (
cable,seed etc)
h)Select mesh elements and assign properties
i) Check boundary restraints
Go to Next Step
1.1.3 Form Finding
A.Call the Form Finder. If this works you will have
your first model on video.
B. Check pre stresses and shape.
C.if you are not satisfied change C Values (pre-stress)
and/or geometric positions of fixed nodes and recall
the form finder
D. You can also do this by selecting edit -> change C-
value from the pull down menu.
Next Step
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1.1.4 Analysis
The Analysis is done after following steps:
Create as many Load Conditions as required
Select surface elements,nodes or any element to load
and Add Loads
Call the Non Linear dialog box and create load
combinations
Run the Analysis and see results or plot deformed
shape,stresses etc
Look at the Video Tutorial to have a idea
1.2 FAQ
A few common questions and problems :
1.2.1 What are tensile structures?
Structures to sustain loads by tensions of soft materials,
such as wire and membrane, is called tensile structures.
Familiar examples are the tent, the suspension bridge,
the spider net, the heat balloon, etc. There are two types
of tensile structures, one to sustain themselves under
the gravity and the other without gravity.
Mechanism of tensile structures to sustain
loads under Gravity:
Let us observe a suspension bridge, as an example. The
gravity W of a part of girder (in the figure below) is
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suspended by the vertical wire, which is connected to
the thick curved wire. The gravity W balances with two
tension forces F1 and F2 on both sides. It can be proved
that the rough shape of the thick wire is a parabolla, (i.e.
a quadratic curve), if the girder has a uniform weight
distribution.
Note that, if we have no girder and the wire sustains its
own load, the wire curve is not a parabolla but the
catenary. This is the basic principle of a doubly curved
(anti-clastic) surface that describes a single layer tensile
structure.
Another example is the membrane reservoir of water,
where the tension of membrane should sustain the
hydrostatic pressure of the water.
If the water has a density and the gravitational
acceleration is g ( = 9.8 m/s2), the hydrostatic pressure p
of the water at a depth z is expressed as
p = g z,
i.e. the pressure increases in proportion to the depth.
Then, in order to balance with this pressure, the shape
of the membrane at the deeper point must have the
larger curvature. It comes from the fact that the pressure
difference produced on both sides of a membrane is the
product of the tension strength and the mean curvature
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of the membrane. Hence, the curvature is inversely
proportional to the depth.
Of course, you can choose a spherical shape (uniform
curvature). But, the tension at the bottom becomes large
to balance with the hydrostatic pressure and the
membrane has a danger to break.
This ideal shape of reservoir is similar to a liquid drop on
a non-wetting floor.
This is the basic principle of double layer membrane
surfaces like cushions / foils.
1.2.2 After Form Find I dont see anything. What Happens ?

1. A common problem is node RESTRAINTS : If there are
no fixed nodes these will collapse to a single node and
your model simply disappears.
2. Did you do "find parts" to find the boundary first? You
need to first "find parts" make mesh and then run a
form-find.
1.2.3 I am not able to find desired shape. What can I do ?

Tensile structures work on force intensive forms and as
a result, not all shapes are possible with tensile
structures. The rules of equilibrium under tension are the
basis and more generally speaking, one needs to have
sufficient double curvature (anticlastic shape) for any
good tensile structure.
Start thinking in terms of these rules and then try to
make your model. Synclastic (doubly curved, but bubble
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shaped) shapes are possible only if the surfaces are
internally pressurized.
After that generally we have 2 main ways to control
shape :
A) Fixed points - fix some points, edges, beam elements
so that the form can be dictated by them.
B) Assigning different Pretension ( C value or Force
Density Value ) to different parts of the structure.
1.2.4 What loads are acting on the structure?
A tensile structure's shape is maintained by the balance
of two axes stressing along the principle directions of
curvature. Which means that they need to be stressed to
attain a particular form. This impregnated stress is
known a pre-stress which has to exist in all types of
tension - active structures and they are impregnated
using various techniques like compensation, stressing
the supporting structure etc. These forces have to be
included in all other load cases.
As the surface of the tensile structure gets loaded, due to
a variety of factors like wind suction, snow load, rain
loads, loads of people working on the surface etc, they
cause one of the stresses to increase, and the other to
decrease. This change in stress is capable of changing
the overall shape of the structure and completely change
the behaviour of the structure.
At some load value the structure will loose all stress in
one direction, and will then behave locally as an
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Synclastic structure. This can be the point where large
deflections start to be observed in the structure - which
then leads to the eventual collapse of the structure.
So the pre-stress value is the main value that determines
how the structure reacts to loads. A high pre stress gives
a stiff structure that will resist applied loads with low
defections, but will need a material resistant to high
tensile stresses, without any great elongation and strong
supporting structure. A low pre stress gives a structure
that will deflect more with loads, and one that can be built
with a lesser resilient material and weaker supporting
structure.
Hence a tensile structure has to be designed for Pre-
stress - which will then determine the behaviour of the
structure under other loads. Like any building a tensile
structure is susceptible to exactly the same type of loads
as mass structures, but due to their unique geometry and
their force-active behaviour, their response to loads is
completely different.
Due to this behaviour, one has to be very careful in
designing such structures, and sufficient amount of
investigations have to be made to be able to safely
construct and design such structures.
1.2.5 How to calculate wind loads from Wind speed ?
Due to the minimal mass of tensile structures and the
fact that the ratio of applied load to self weight is usually
many times larger than the ratios for conventional
buildings, they tend to be easily agitated by wind forces,
and extremely susceptible to small changes in the snow
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and water loading, which can have a large impact on the
service life of the structure, if they are not carefully taken
to account.
Unfortunately the amount of research done in this area
of building is scarce, and as a result most codes written
around the world are for standardized building shapes,
materials and behaviour, often neglecting these type of
lightweight structures. As a result, more time and effort
needs to be spent by designers in studying the
behaviour of such structures to simulate the precise
behaviour and specifying load cases.
Consequently large scale tensile structures like
stadiums, arenas and building roofs, require accurate
information on static and dynamic effects of wind loads
so as to reduce over-design and improve the overall
safety of the structure. In this respect the closest answer
to finding the effects of wind speeds would be to put the
structure through a wind-tunnel test, which, for larger
scales can invariably justified as the effect of
conservatively derived wind loads on the structure would
cost the client considerably more than the test itself.
However, with the ever decreasing time-scales and ever
increasing competitive bidding's, there is seldom scope
or sufficient budget outlay for a wind tunnel test. Also -
the dominance of the standard design procedures over
tensile structures, causes most design engineers to
design the tensile structure in accordance with the codes
of their country.
Each country has different rules for this conversion, so
we recommend to read the norms active in your country.
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Here you can find a few formulas from Italian codes.
1.2.6 How can I add a mast with stay cables ?
Contrary to their earlier version, ixForTen has one
straightforward way to process sub-structure ( or
supporting structures ) by directly importing elements
and inserting them into a tenso-structure.
So to add a mast with stay cables with Non-Linear
behavior:
a) Import your mast and cable geometry in a Tenso-
Group
b)Set mast with truss or beam type and a valid cross
section
c) Set cables as cable type and assign a initial pretension
(not C Value) enabling the KEEP PRETENSION
WHILE FORM FINDING option to TRUE
d) set the deformability to NL-Deformable
Look at this tutorial to have an example.
1.2.7 Analysis stops with a message MATRIX Error . What to do ?
Non-Linear analysis is a complex topic. The failure can
be connected to many reasons but we suggest to look
first here :
1) Your model is placed near the global origin ?
If not move it near the global 0,0,0 origin.
Node coordinates with numbers like 125869.0E+3,
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5685412788.0E+2,8560001E02
are of course legal but when it comes to make a
stiffness matrix hundreds of times the accuracy of
numbers is lost and can cause instability problems.
2) Your model has enough curvature and pretension ?
Generally the process stops because of instability
under load. Around a certain point all element
become compressed and so the stiffness matrix row
connected to that node becomes zero.
This problem can be fixed only with a revision of the
model. In other words the system is advising that the
model has potentially some problems.
3) Do the supporting elements in your model have
enough stiffness?
If you assign a very small cross-section to an
element susceptible to a lot of stress, then, ForTen
instead of crashing through, gives an error message
"FEM error".
Try increasing the stiffness of your elements. Change
the cross sections, look into the material property -
verify if they are rightly defined. Take care when you
are opening an old (For Ten 3000 / For Ten 2000 )
model - as they have different property assignments
than ix For Ten 4000.
4) Have you assigned rightly the node constraints?
Node constraints are important to the stability of the
structure. If they are wrongly assigned - the model can
either collapse or give a wrong result. Check node
assignments / constraints again.
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1.2.8 How do I add fixed length links ?
To create a fixed length link :
1) Add a link with DESIRED length into a tenso-group
2) set the property as cable or truss and assign a pretension
( if required by design )
3) Set the deformability to NL-Deformable
4) Fix one end of the link if not attached to other structural
parts
5) Run the formfinder
To avoid high non-linear instability set the link near to the
final position
this will let the converge in a fast and accurate way
1.2.9 How can I check if pre-stresses are Ok ?
The level of prestress in a membrane structure affects all
the elements within the supporting structure. Prestress
is an inherent part of the form of the structure and hence
a part of it's behaviour. The prestress levels are chosen
as a result of the form-finding process - and they have to
be sustained through the installation and the service life
of the structure. Long term effects such as creep of the
membrane material - deflection in the supporting
structure - even settlement of foundations (although
rarely) may alter the the prestress levels.
However, for PVC coated polyester membrane
structures, a 'rule of the thumb' is that the prestress
should not be less than 1.3% of the average tensile strip
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capacity of the material in both warp and weft directions*.
The prestress values for PTFE coated glass fibre
membrane structures tend to be higher as the material is
stiffer. For PTFE fabrics, a 'rule of the thumb' is that the
prestress should not be less than 2.5% of the average
tensile strip capacity of the material in both warp and weft
directions. Although there is no rule to this due to the
wide range of shapes and size of tensile structures and
the expanse of methods in their design, installation and
maintenance.
Prestress can be chosen with higher values too to
minimize the deflections of inefficiently curved membrane
forms with the increased prestress marginally reducing
the allowable working stress range. Temporary or special
case membrane structures can even be designed with
lower or considerably higher prestress values.
Different prestress values while finding the form of the
structure alters the form and shape of the structure and
this may change to a certain extent the structural
behaviour of the structure. This strategy is in fact a fine-
tuning for structures that have different loading
behaviours in different directions - however choosing
more suitable geometric boundary conditions and more
curvature will always be a more successful way of
improving structural behaviour. Generally prestress
ratios for perpendicular directions should not vary more
than 4:1 or 1:4.
Stresses under load have to be checked against
admissible working stresses, so any pretension where
stresses under load that do not go higher than
admissible working stresses are technically feasible.
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*This is from the European Tensile Guide - pg. 192 -
Marcus Balz, Mike Dencher
1.2.10 I am not able to cut the surface. What to do ?
The patterner will work only if :
The current Group is a Tenso-Group with a valid Mesh
From inside the patterner click on the tenso-group to
pattern and then in the graphic window to
update, you will see a light rectangle over the current
tenso-group and the boundary edges .
If no edges are visible it is likely true that the tenso-group
has a bad mesh and needs to be fixed from within the
editor.
From the editor check if a valid Triangle mesh is available
for that group ( a shaded visualization that shows a nice
surface with no holes or black areas is necessary )
1.2.11 How to I calculate compensation ?
Generally membrane structures are compensated so that
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the fabric will achieve the predefined prestress levels at
the correct geometry once the creep of the membrane
has occured. The compensation process accounts for
the the elastic stretch and creep of the membrane and
cables. compensation is computed in the following way :
For a number of points over the surface Warp & Weft
pretension are assigned.
For these stress states biaxial tests are made on the
material to be used in the final structure, so that we know
the exact expansion / contraction of the fabric in their
primary and secondary direction.
The biaxial tests will report elongation values for the
desired stress state. These values can then be directly
used in compensating our patterns. Although this is a
simplistic outlook many times the compensation values
may vary even along the length of a pattern - Although
ixForten offers the possibility of de-compensating edges
and overall compensation of patterns, differential
compensation along the length of the panel needs to be
done manually.
1.2.12 How can I check if patterns are correct ?

In ix For Ten 4000 we always suggest to :
Make all patterns for each Tenso-Group of the model
Go in the production pane
Activate in the options pane "Display Pattern Edge
length"
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With this option active look at the pattern assembly
edges and check that all edges welded have the same
length for the 2 sides. This will give a quite absolute
check that patterning is well done.
ixForten also gives you the 2d-lengths and the 3d lengths
(in parenthesis) in each patterns this can be matched
against the 3D actual lengths to get a perfect check.
1.3 Modelling Fabric Structures
A fabric structure is modeled using a mesh of linear
elements connected to nodes.There is no limit to the size
or connectivity of the mesh or the number of nodes.
Each node has X,Y,Z coordinates and six degrees of
freedom tx,ty,tz,rx,ry,rz .Each linear element has a
number of properties (material, C Coefficient, cross
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section etc.) which will be discussed later.
1.3.1 Form Finding
Be sure to check the list of actions for a
correct Form finding:
1. Make the mesh model
2. Restrain nodes with a fixed position in space
3. Define cable properties and C Coefficients
4. Do the form find process
5. Go back to step 3 if the model does not satisfy your
needs
6. Check the final model against boundary models
imported via DXF or 3DS
1.3.2 Static Non linear Analysis
For Non Linear static analysis follow these
steps :
Make a Mesh Model (if not already done)
Create one or more load conditions
Activate a condition and apply nodal or wind loads
Define a load combination
Define analysis parameters
Do the analysis
Look at the analysis results
Look at this tutorial to have a few tips
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1.3.3 Patterning
Check these steps for a correct patterning
process:
Make a Mesh Model (if not already done)
Enter the patterner module
Make all necessary seams with geodesic cuts or plane
cuts
Enter process 2 of the patterning module with the
option automatic patches
For each patch define seam cut 1 and seam cut 2 and
make the pattern
Optimize, stretch, rotate or offset sides of the pattern as
required.
When all patterns are done go to the production module
to see final work.
Export to CAD for plotting and producing
Look at thevideofor a simplepatterning example:
The steps shown will be discussed in more detail later in
the documentation and in the tutorials
1.4 Application Interface
movie on new ui features
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2 Fabric Structure FormFinding
Modeling complex fabric structures, is one of the main
goals of ixFor Ten 4000, to understand all features and
links between elements, experience and trial and error is
needed.
ix For Ten relies on groups to store information on fabric
parts, cable parts and steel or concrete parts.
These groups then, can have several sub-groups where
other kinds of mathematical models are kept like
Patterns, mesh , quad mesh, 3D patches etc.
ix For Ten4000behaves ina quitedifferent toForTen2xxx so
users of previous versions should fully understand how these
improvements canchangetheir work.
It is not aneasy task toexplainhow touseall features correctly so
wewill usea different approach indocumenting thesoftware.
Explaining basic features
Examples and tutorials to understand the basics.
2.1 Groups
ixForTen works with a hierarchical group system - where
elements are grouped together for matter of organization
and convenience.
A description of the
groups and how they
connect is necessary and
will be discussed here.
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ixForTen relies on master groups for the mathematical
model that will be processed by the form finder, static
nonlinear analysis and linear analysis.
The Master groups are :
Boundary Groups They store information on
boundaries which are generally one or more closed
lines in 3D space. For ForTen to identify a boundary,
it needs to be closed. This is a master group under
which tenso groups, mesh groups and other groups
can be created.
Tenso Groups They store information on fabric,
steel elements, cable nets or any structural
components. This is a special group as it can come
up as a child group under Boundary Groups or alone
as a Master group. Unlike earlier versions of ForTen,
where these groups were usually used to store
information for cables and tension-active structures
like mast-tie down systems, now these groups are
used to store all structural types including truss and
beam elements.
Cushion Groups these store information on
boundaries of cushions and are generally processed
like boundary groups. Cushion Groups can have up
to 3 layers (Tenso Sub Groups) respectively Top,
Bottom and Mid layer
Graphic Groups these store useful geometric
information for snapping and design control,
elements in a graphic group will never interfere with
the analysis, design or form-finding processes.
Mesh Groups these store information on surfaces
that are to be used as shells / FEM meshes for
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design and analysis.
Each master group always has two databases :
Nodes
Linear Elements
Of course there are many other databases but here we
will focus our attention on the essentials.
2.2 Nodes
Nodes are the interface between elements, a free node
without any element attached is a problem during form
find and analysis so pay attention to nodes created,
when deleting elements it is better to delete nodes, as
elements connected to nodes will be deleted
automatically .
Node Restraints
ixForTen 4000 nodes have a single restraint set unlike
earlier versions of ForTen. A node restraint controls 6
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degrees of freedom and are called Stiffness Restraints
D1 = Deflection in Direction X
D2 = Deflection in Direction Y
D3 = Deflection in Direction Z
R1 = Rotation around X
R2 = Rotation around Y
R3 = Rotation around Z
symbol for a node fixed for 3 rotations
symbol for a node fixed for 3 displacements
Symbol for a free node
Color and size of the node is controlled by the Settings:
Preferences Dialogue box under the Editor panel :
Nodes Color for thecolor of freenodes
Restraints Color for restrained nodes
Node Symbol size inpixel units for thesizeof thesymbol
Understanding of the restraint conditions is essential
for using many features especially when we have rigid
borders or structures.
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Like conventional FEA packages the stiff restraint will fix
nodes
for a particular movement and represent the real
structure restraints
and manages to link this process with a standard non
linear stiffness analysis.
2.3 Linear elements
Linear elements aresimplegeometric lines betweentwonodes
thereis nocurved element socurved cables areimplemented as
piecewiselinear elements.
Linear elements have a type property :
Cable
Membrane
Beam
Truss
Gap
Many linear element properties have a different meaning
that depends on the type.
2.3.1 Linear Element Properties
Linear elements aresimplegeometric lines betweentwonodes
thereis nocurved element socurved cables areimplemented as
piecewiselinear elements.
Linear elements havetheseproperties :
Code : a number toidentify it inthereports
Type : cable,membrane,beam,truss and gap
Behaviour : Linear or non-Linear ( linear is valid only for
beam and truss element types )
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Deformability : FDM-Deformable,NL-Deformable,L-
Deformable,Fixed.
C Value : [0+INF] theforcedensity value
Seed : a Cross Section geometry and Material
definition
Group Code : a user defined number useful for grouping
elements
Rotation Angle : angleindegrees of thefirst principleaxis
End restraint A,B : Only for beam elements
Warp-Weft direction : Used only by membraneelements
Keep Pretension flag : Keep user defined pretension
whileformfinding, valid only for NL-deformableelements
Pretension : User defined pretension ( valid only for NL-
deformableelements )
Constraints : Fixed Length, undeformed length and force
Code: This is a numeric valueused toidentify them.
Type : TheFEA typeused by this element.
Cable: only tensionelement, non-linear
Membrane : only tension element used to model
membranenets
Beam : compression,tension and bending stiffness.
Canbelinear or non-linear
Truss : compression, tension (called also Strut ).
Pinned element with axial stiffness only. Canbelinear or non-
linear.
Gap : compressiononly element, non-linear .
Behaviour : for beams and trusses only. Wecanspecify a linear
or a non-linear FEA element.
Deformability: This is VERY IMPORTANT flag to specify.
Membraneand boundary cableelements aregenerally flagged as
FDM deformable ( they find a geometry from the form-finding
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process) whilestay cables, beams,truss and gap elements are
generally NL-deformable( they havea predefined geometry but
deform under FEA stiffness analysis ).
C Value is theforcedensity value, theratioof theForceand the
Length of a element inthefinal shapeposition.
Form Finding a shapewherenoconstraints are used will be
processed in a single linear system of equations where the
equilibrium equations on node j in a net of elements with
connections ij are:
With :
Nij = Forceintheelement connecting nodes i - j
Lij = Length of element i-j

ThevalueNij/Lij nonlinear intheaboveequationis replaced by
Cij and solved ina singlestep.
Good starting values for Cij arenot difficult tofind out whenthe
initial prestress inthemembraneis known.
Generally, we do form finding many times to agree not only
membrane initial prestress values but even other aspects like
geometry , surfacecurvatureetc.
It is easy tounderstand that higher values of Cij will shortenthe
element and increaseits internal forcewhilelower values will
elongateit and result inlower forces.
C values depends ontheunits weareusing as it is a Forceona
Length ratio, sochanging system units generally needs anupdate
of C values too.
In the tutorials C values will be widely used to model fabric
structures and to establish the range of prestress. We must
always keep inmind that overall structurestiffness depends on
prestress and geometry , so if under loads our structure
undergoes largedisplacements evenwith high internal prestress,
geometry should be checked and maybe changed due to bad
initial design.
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Group Code : this is a user specified code. Elements with the
samegroup codeget grouped and inany reports wewill find
them ina unified row.
Rotation Angle : This is theangleof rotationof thelocal axis 2
around its default position. Rotationangles havea meaning only
for beam elements.
End restraint A,B : Beam elements areby default fully fixed to
their end nodes. We can release any degree of freedom to
simulatepinned or any special behaviour.
Warp-Weft direction : this flag is meaningful only for membrane
elements ina net grid. Thewarp/weft properties specified inthe
material will be applied accordingly to elements that have the
warp/weft flag assigned. Evenselectionof warp-weft curves uses
this flag toidentify elements.
Keep Pretension flag : This flag enables user defined pretension

Pretension : user defined pretension. Valid only for cable,truss
elements flagged as NL-Deformableand keep pretensionflag set
totrue. Whenrunning theForm-Find process theseelements will
start with thevalueassigned inthis field. Thereal pretensionwill
thenget computed after theform-finding step. This is a useful
starting valuetogive stiffness and avoid instability while form-
finding thestructure.
Constraints : Various constraints applied on cables. These
constraints will enablethesocalled non-linear FDM solver.
Donot useif not sureonhow they behave. Generally theseare
used toform-find complex cablesystems. they areNOTintended
for fixed links betweena point and a membrane, for theselinks
weuse a normal cable set as NL-Deformable drawn at the
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desired length.
2.3.1.1 Seeds or Named properties
The seed ( or named property ) is a named data base
object created from Tables : Data Base explorer and is
made of two entities :
A cross section
A material
2.3.1.1.1 Cross Section
Thecross sectionis used by all types of elements but not by
membrane elements. Geometry of membrane elements is
calculated automatically after a first form find step and always
updated after each form find, this will beexplained indetail later .
Other types of entities will rely onthecross sectionfor :
Area A : Cross sectionarea of theelement
Inertia J1 : Moment of Inertia first axis
Inertia J2 : Moment of Inertia second axis
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Torsional Inertia T
Shear Area S1
Shear Area S2
Note: Truss,Cables and Gap elements will only use the
Area value while beams will use all of them. This is
because truss and cable elements are supposed to be
subjected toonly axial loads ( i.e. purecompression/tension) ,
while for beam elements ixForten uses the other values to
calculatebending, shear, torsionetc. for that particular section.
2.3.1.1.2 Material
A Material definition (see Tables Data Base explorer) is
made of two sets of properties
Homogeneous material
Membrane material
Homogeneous material has :
E modulus : Young modulus (F/L^2)
Poisson ratio
Density : weight per unit volume(F/L^3)
Thermal expansion coefficient
Membrane Material
Membranematerial is defined by :
E warp : Membraneyoung modulus inwarp directionF/L
E Weft : Membraneyoung modulus inweft direction F/L
Weight x unit area : F/L^2
It is alsovery important tounderstand that warp and weft direction
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is just part of theelement definitionsoweshould becareful when
using it tosimulatea real membrane.
This is becauseafter patterning warp and weft directionof the
patches can be quite different from warp and weft of the
mathematical grid used for form finding and nonlinear analysis,
this is under thecontrol of theuser and not thesoftware.
A element typed as a warp element will get its E valuefrom the
warp tableentry whilea weft typed element will get it from theweft
entry.
It is clear from thedefinitionthat thickness of themembraneis not
takenintoaccount.

Generally manufacturers of fabrics donot specify E modulus in
warp and weft directionbut elongation ratio under a specified
stress for a strip of fixed width.
Tousethesevalues wemust convert them to E modulus and pay
attentiontounits used by fabric manufacturer and thoseused in
thesoftware.
Membrane Conversion example
Say weareusing Knand meters and havea PVC specification :
Tensilestrength = 660N/cm (warp and weft)
Elongationratio = 20%
Thetensilestrength inKnand meters
Tr = 66 Kn/ m
Te= 66/S
Tp= about 10% Te
where :
Tr = ultimatestress
Te= maximum permitted stress during thelifeof thestructure
Tp = membraneprestress
S = safety factor (from 4 - 8)
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using a safety factor of 5 weget
Te= 13Kn/ m
Tp= 1.3Kn/ m
TheE modulus for themembraneshould be
E = 66/20* 100= 330Kn/m
IxForten 4000 has a automatic E module calculation
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3 Structural Analysis with ixForTen 4000
ForTen 4000 modeling techniques are quite different from
previous version so we need to focus here on how to model
tensile's with supporting structures.
When we click on the Form-Find icon ForTen makes several
tasks to relax the shape.
This process ensembles what happens in a real structure
where a membrane is pre-stressed over a stiff supporting
structure.
We can simplify these several steps and say that there are 2
main processes:
FDM process
Non-Linear Stiffness analysis
FDM process or Force Density method relaxes the
membrane mesh using the well known Force density
method. In this process the C values ( or force densities ) will
control shape and level of prestress in the membrane and
boundary edges. This is not unlike the earlier versions of
ForTen.
At the end of the FDM process if the membrane is connected
to a supporting structure we have to transfer the prestress
forces to the structure. This step is solved by a conventional
non-linear finite element analysis kernel. It is clear that we
have to communicate to the software which part has to relax
following the rules of the FDM method and which part is the
supporting structure. All this is done with 2 main properties:
Node restraints
Element Deformability
ForTen 4000 has a simple set of node restraints called Stiff
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restraint these are the conventional restraints used in any
FEA package to fix or free node movements when FEA
analysis is performed. The single node restraint set
simplifies modeling work but we have to solve the problem
of fixing unwanted node movements in the FDM process ( for
example we do not want a steel frame to deform under FDM
analysis ) .
This is done using a special tag on the connecting elements (
linear element connecting 2 nodes) called Deformability
We have the current list of types :
FDM Deformable =the element will deform under FDM
analysis
NL Deformable =the element is fixed for FDM analysis and
will deform under non-linear stiff analysis
L Deformable =do not use (experimental in this version)
Fixed =the element is fixed for FDM analysis and fixed for
nonlinear stiff analysis
For a conventional tensile structure it is quite simple to
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understand how to set properties :
1. The membranes and boundary cables will be FDM
deformable
2. The supporting structure and stay cables will be NL
deformable
3. The Fixed flag can be used to fix boundary nodes when we
are not interested in analysis but we want to check the
shape without bothering about analysis.
Of course we can use the Fixed property to check geometry
and when satisfied switch to NL Deformable and so connect
the membrane to the supporting structure. Be aware that we
have to run the Form-Finder each type we change element
properties to update our model.
Non Linear Behaviour
Under loads Tensile Structures behave quite differently to
conventional steel or concrete structures, they undergo large
displacements to carry loads with tension stress to the
ground. The linear theory of structures where strains (and
displacements) are small compared to the overall size of the
structure, where loads are applied in the undeformed state
are not applicable to membrane structures.
This is the reason why geometrical nonlinear analysis is
necessary.
ForTen does a static geometrical nonlinear analysis using a
newton-raphson method.
Static means that loads are applied at time to fixed, while
geometrical nonlinear means that the equilibrium state is the
final deformed one and not the initial shape as in linear
theory.
After form finding we have a starting geometry G
o
in
equilibrium with prestress S
o
, so geometry AND prestress
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represent our structure, the overall stiffness and the capacity
of carrying loads depends on these two components. A good
tensile structure design depends on geometry and prestress
and the Architect/Engineer should never forget this.
Lets explain simply what happens when we perform a
nonlinear analysis with applied load P on the starting
geometry G
o
and prestress S
o
.
A number of increments n and iterations t have been
specified together with a precision x .
The analysis starts from a initial configuration Go equilibrate
as it is the result of the form finder.
Load increment is applied as P
1
= P
n
.
With this small load increment a new shape G
1
and a new
stress state S
1
are searched. If the load increment is small
compared to stress state So the variation of stress L
S
= S
1
-S
o
and geometry L
G
=G
1
-G
o
will be small so the problem can be
linearizied and solved in t iteration loops. Not all the t loops
will be performed if the module of vector LG
i
at loop i
becomes smaller than x (LG
i
| <x).
We have now a geometry G
1
in equilibrium with stress S
1
and
load P
1
.
A new load is calculated P
2
= P
1
+ P
n
and another geometry/
stress state is searched G
2
/S
2
.
After n iterations load P has been applied and the final shape
G
n
and final stress state S
n
have been calculated.
It can happen that the above analysis does not converge or
converges to a bad solution, in the first case the program
stops with a alert message in the second case with a node
balance control (show reaction forces) the user is able to
check results.
The reason why an analysis can fail :
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1) Low number of increments\iterations compared to the
overall load P
The variations L
G
and L
S
are too big, at each increment
errors are accumulated and the problem diverges.
Solution : Use a higher number of increments/iterations
2) Low prestress and / or bad design
If a structure has been assigned a lower level of prestress, or
if the shape of the structure is not appropriate for the
stiffness of the materials assigned, one may have what is
termed as a "bad design". For example a flat stretched
membrane with a vertical load like snow or water. These
kind of structures can only result in being problematic
structures if they are not analysed and rectified in the design
stage itself.
Also in certain situations - one may assign a wrong seed to
the structure. (for example a shadenet, with low stiffness for
a ,large scale tensile structure or a 6mm cable for a long
span). This will result in large deformations / elongations of
the elements - and thus a wrong result.
Solution: change design, by varying the heights, geometry,
check high and low points , check locally flat areas , check /
increase prestress level to prevent excessive deformations.
In the case of wrong seed assignment, check the seeds that
are assigned to which part of the structure. It should be
appropriate for the scale of the structure, and the values
used for the seed should be verified.
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3.1 Newton Raphson
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3.2 Newton Raphson Modified
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3.3 Incremental Method

3.4 Incremental Iterative method
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3.5 Static Nonlinear Analysis


Analysis of a model is done after following the steps:
1. Form-finding
2. Loading the structure
3. Creating Load cases
4. Setting Analysis options
5. Run the Analysis
6. View Results
3.5.1 Loading the structure
Oncewehavefound our final shapewith theform finder, wemust
load it beforeperforming structural analysis.
Wehavedifferent types of loads, each useful tomodel real life
loads likesnow, wind, dead loads etc.
Loads are grouped in load conditions Ci and analysis is
performed onload caseCmbi which is a linear combinationof all
defined load conditions :
Cmbi =l1 * C1 +l2 * C2 +... ln * Cn
Where l
i
areparticipationcoefficients ( generally set toa value
from 0.0to1.0but any input is accepted by thesoftware).
To create a new load condition :
Menu Loading -> Add Load conditionthesoftwareprompts for the
condition name and adds it to the structures load conditions
database.
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Load conditions have a local popup menu where we
have access to its commands via right click :
Add load (load selected)
This command loads theselected mesh with a particular valueas
specified inthepop-up box. If no element is selected there
shall be no load assigned. This canalsobedoneby selecting
elements and clicking theicon ontheloading toolbar.
Editing load cases:
Load cases canbeeasily edited from thepop-up box by clicking
what needs tobeedited. From this theparticular loads contained
intheload canbeprinted (through thereport manager window), if
therehas beenanerror intheapplicationof theload or it needs to
bechanged or deleted - one can select "clear loads" or even
completely deletetheparticular load.
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Unlikeearlier versions this versiondoes not haveright click -> "set
as current" option since the plot options window has been
replaced with plots tab - whereonecaneasily plot theparticular
load.
Displaying load
Select theplot tab. Intheplot tab therearetwoadditional tabs
namely responseand options. Responsetab is similar tothePlot
optioninForten3000. Theother tab deals with options for theplot
options and theoptiontodisplay theloads. Select theparticular
load case- and refresh theview toseetheloads.
3.5.1.1 Add Load
Add Load
Under the Add Load menu we find the "new load condition"
commands.
Theseall work with selectionsets, this means that loads will be
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generated for all selected entities of thetypeexpected by theload
command.
For exampleAdd Nodal Load prompts for a vector and then
applies this toall Selected nodes. Noload will becreated if the
selectionnodeset is empty.
Note:
The local Add Load menu commands are found also on
the main menu bar under Loading item .
3.5.1.1.1 Nodal Loads
Adds nodal loads tothecurrent selectionset.
The dialogue box for F
x
, F
y
and F
z
components (M
x
, M
y
, M
z
components if oneis considering moments) input incurrent force
units. Positivevalues areintheoppositedirectionof World Axis (
eg. Vector F(0,0,100) is a vertical load that points down).
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Inadditiontotheoptionof loading a nodewith purely vector forces
inearlier versions, onecannow load them with moment forces in
therelevant axes too.
Note:
This command requires a valid node selection set.
3.5.1.1.2 Cable-Beam loads
Add a uniform load to a beam or cable element
Thedialoguebox prompts for P1, P2, a, b input for forces and
distanceof theapplicationof theuniform forceinthelocal axes of
themember respectively.
Positivevalues areinoppositedirectionof Local element Axis for
local axis loads and oppositeof theworld global axis for global
axis loads.
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Cable-beam load dialogue box
Wecanadd a trapezoidal load by activating theP2 check box.
Inthis casewehavetoinput :
P1 : load at end a
P2 : load at end b
a : initial positioninhomogeneous coordinates ( 0.0- 1.0)
b : final positioninhomogeneous coordinates ( 0.0- 1.0)
Global axis checked will assign the loads in global coordinate
system
Note:
This command requires a valid cable,beam group
selection set.
3.5.1.1.3 Pressure loads
Add a uniform pressure to the current selection set of
triangles (mesh elements).
Thedialoguebox prompts for a pressurevalueF/L^2 (Force x
area ).
A positivepressureis interpreted as theoppositetothenormal
vector of triangles .
Check directionof normal vectors toensurecorrect loading.
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Beforeanalysis pressureloads areapplied as nodal loads with the
formula :
nl = (pl * ta)/3; nl= nodal load, pl = pressureload, ta = triangle
area
This command requires a valid Mesh selection to work.
3.5.1.1.4 Vector loads

A vector and two coefficients (normal and tangent
factors) are requested
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The vector direction gives the direction while the modulus
indicates forceintensity.
Thesoftwarecalculates for each selected trianglethenormal and
shear component of the load according to the triangle normal
vector, multiplies these by the specified coefficients and the
trianglearea and applies theresulting valuedivided by threetothe
nodes.
This command requires a valid Mesh selection to work.
3.5.1.1.5 Thermal loads
Adds a thermic load A
T
onthecurrent selectionset.
Only cable, truss,beam and membrane elements can have
thermal loads.
3.5.2 Add Self Weight
This command will add a self weight load condition.
A self weight is a special conditionalways empty and never filled
by theuser.
it will be automatically evaluated at runtime before non-linear
analysis.
Theexists only oneself weight load conditionand canbescaled
by a factor from withintheload conditions analysis panel.
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3.5.3 Add Stress Multiplier
This is another special load condition. It is always empty but gives
theability totheuser toscalepre-stresses by a factor from within
theload cases from theanalysis panel.
3.5.4 Add Zero Load
A Zeroload conditioncanbefilled only with nodal loads.
Theseloads will bebalanced intheFDM analysis and not inthe
stiffness analysis step.
This means basically that wecanruna formfind of a cablenet for
examplewith applied loads onthenodes
3.5.5 Creating Load Cases

Load cases can be created only from the Analysis
dialogue box Active Load case pane
Toadd a load caseclick on"New" button- this shall createa new
load casewith theincremental series of LC# with null values for
theloads. Toremovea particular load caseselect that particular
load caseand thenclick "Remove". Clicking "toOne" sets the
valueof thefactor to1.0"toZero" re-sets it tozero. Whenit is
zerothat load shall beinactivefor theparticular load case. "to
Value" sets it toa particular multiplier value.
You canalsoselect non-continuous cells by pressing thectrl key
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and clicking theparticular cell. This is convenient toset values for
multipleload cases.
The earlier of the right mouse click on the table and a
popup menu would appear with the commands is now been
disabled.
New Load case
Will add a new Load casenamed LC# inthefirst availablerow.
Toedit its namedoubleclick and enter thenew name. Onecan
alsoedit it by selecting thefield and pressing thebackspacekey to
deletetheload nameand typing theappropriatenameinthecell.
For each conditiona default valueof "0.0" is present.
To edit a number of entries select them, call the Set Value
command as explained above.
Remove Load case
Will simply deletethecurrent activerow and all analysis data so
usewith great care.
Current LOAD CASE
Thecurrent Load caseis set with the check mark of the first
column.
This will betheload casefor which theanalysis is performed. If
oneclicks another load case - the checkbox shall toggle, de-
selecting thelast selected load case, thus making thelast onethat
is checked thecurrent load case.
To One, To Zero,To value commands
Select a number of cells recall the command and these
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will get filled with
1.0 =if we call the To one button
0.0 =if we recall the To zero button
a user value if we recall the To Value command
3.5.6 Running the analysis
The Analysis run is done from the Non Linear analysis
dialog box. This is done by clicking the "Non Linear
Analysis" button. Before a run check the analysis
options below :
Analysis Settings Pane
Intheanalysis settings panewefind thefollowing parameters :
Energy : Convergence tolerance on the energy
Displacements :Convergence tolerance on values (
relative error on max norm )
Forces : Convergence tolerance on residue ( relative
error on max norm )
Theseareoptions for theinternal solver.
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No. of increments
No. of iterations
Maximum update after no. of iterations:
Set always No. increments / iterations higher or equal
than 10
Disable Material Non-linearity :

With this optionactivated cables and membraneelements will
work incompressionas normal truss elements
This optionis used only tofind instability problems
3.5.7 Viewing Results
After a successful run we can view the results of the
analysis graphically and in text format.
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From theplots ResponseTab wecanselect
Active : a Load Caseor Form-Find for results after theform-Find
process
Reactions : plots thereactionforces
Deformed : deformed shapefor current load case
Membrane stress : s11,s22,VonMises or linear stresses for the
membrane
Beam-Cables : Axial forces,Bending moments and shear forces
for beams
Shells : shell stresses
From within the Plot - Options pane we can control various
options likesizeof thefonts, colors ,ranges toplot etc.
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example of a membrane linear stress plot
Example of reaction forces text output
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Theoutput units and format canbecontrolled withintheReport
setup paneof thePreferences panel.
Wecanchooseunits and number formatting for the numbers
from withinResponseReport panel.

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4 Patterning with ixForten 4000

4.1 Patterning

Doubly curved surfaces cannot bedeveloped intostrips of planar
elements with straight edges. They havetobedeveloped along
straight lines along curved surfaces knownas "geodesics". These
geodesics also cannot be formed by simple description of
geometry inall cases of tensilestructures.
By patterning theobjectiveis tomakesheets of cloth, that joined
together, becomeour fabric structuresurface.
Patterning can be an extremely complex operation, and as
significant as the analysis of the structure. This is because
improper patterning of a structurecancausetheseams / joints of
thestructuretobeloaded intrans-axis shear, causing thefabric to
wrinkle, deflect and ultimately tear. Alsoimproper interpretationof
forces may occur if thepatterndoes not follow thedirectionof
principlestresses.
Wemust becareful about how patterns aregenerated becauseif
therearebig differences from our mathematical model, and our
real building model, the accuracy of analysis results can be
inadequate.
Patterning is doneina twostep process :
Cutting themodel with seam lines
Joining consecutiveseam lines tomakesurfacepatches and
flattenthem.
To obtain a flat pattern from a 3D patch this is triangled,
then by rigid rotation developed on a flat surface.
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patch triangulation
4.2 The Patterner Module
As soon you enter the patterner group SELECT ( click on the
Tenso-Group in the browser tree ) that you want to pattern.
Only the current Tenso-Group can cut and patterned so
selecting the current group is the first thing to do.
Each Tenso-Group has to be patterned separately from other
Tenso- Groups. Before entering the patterner, a Tenso-Group
should have an uniform Mesh attached. This because the
patterning surfaceboundary is detected from thetrianglemesh,
which canbedetected as a surface( a quadrilateral mesh of
linear elements cannot describe a surface without a diagonal
length ).
Fig. 90Thepatterner moduleinterface
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Boundary detectionis doneonly whentheTensoGroup does not
havea Patch and PatternSub Group.
Thesetwosub groups arecreated automatically and boundary
detectiondone.
Thetwosub groups arevisiblefrom theEditor moduleintheTree
List Fig.91
Fig.91 Tenso Group with Pattern and Patch groups
If we change the surface after patterning or for any reason
or we want to change boundary definition (making holes or
cuts) we MUST force a Patch boundary detection.
This is achieved simply just by deleting the two sub groups
from the Editor. Also - this can be achieving by pressing the
"reset" button in the patterning module.
Patches : Local Menu : DeleteGroup
Patterns : Local Menu : DeleteGroup
Entering thepatterner after this will updateboundary definitionbut
weloseall previous patternand seam curves.
The patterner module has two sub modules :
Cutting Surface
Making Patterns
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Wecanswitch from onetotheother using therelativetab under
thepatterner tab.
4.2.1 Cutting The surface
Thefirst step in a patterning process is tocut thesurfaceby
making geodesic curves and/or sectioncurves or importing other
kind of surfacecurves from theeditor.
All thesecurves canbethought of a cutting grid over thesurface.
Thecutting curves and theboundary curves will detect closed
regions onthesurfacecalled PATCHES .
Inside ixForTen Patches are 3D surface parts and can be
flattened with appropriatealgorithms.
Patch detectionis discussed later.
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Fig. 92 Cutting Surface module
The top pane of the cutting surface module has general
commands :
Make Patterns:
The"makepatterns" buttonwill enter theMakePatternmodule
detecting 3D Patches automatically.
Generally this optionis used whenwehavefinished cutting the
surfaceand weareready topattern.
Autodetectionof closed regions is generally a complex task as all
curveintersections arecalculated and closed paths detected.
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This procedurecansometimes fail todetect intersections, if this
happens theIntersectioneps parameter should bechanged.
This valueis used for curvetocurveintersectionand for closed
patch detection.
This command is used when one has finished creating cut
surfacepatches (which areessentially 2D surfaces which canbe
flattened).
Reset:
TheManual buttongenerally is used toreset all thecutter actions
that havetakenplacewhenonewants tore-dothepatterns again.
This command will delete all the existing patches as well as
recorded cutter positions to start off the patterning from the
beginning - soit should becarefully used.
This however erases thepatches, patterns and cutter positions
only for thetensogroup selected and not for all groups.
Tocreatea Patch from insidetheMakePatterns modulewehave
to:
1. Select location between the boundary poly lines with
any of the cutter commands.
2. Get the appropriate amounts of cuts on the surface.
3. Click on the "make patterns" button (which shall take
you to the "patterns" tab)
4. If the selected boundary is closed a new 3D patch is
created and visualized.
Linear & Radial option
This optionchanges thecutter type.
With linear modethecutter has twoend lines tobeplaced while
with theradial cutting mode, theend of thecutter will befixed at
thecenter of theTensoGroup.
TheTensoGroup center is placed from withintheEditor by using
theEdit Conical Control and is generally used only for conical
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shapes.
Thecenter - buttonshall center thecutter at thecenter of the
conical mast - however if need be- this cutter positioncanbe
manipulated sothat onecanmoveit around any positionaround a
mesh toget a radial solution(especially whenthehead-ring typeis
irregular).
Note: Always check this option before moving the cutter
or making the sections.
4.2.1.1 Single Cutter
Withinsinglecutter modeonecurveat a timeis created.
Thecutter control is used todetect two(or oneif radial is active)
points onthesurfaceboundary and createa surfacecurvethat
joins thesetwopoints.
Thecutter is a color thick linewith twosmall circles at theends.
Tomoveit left mouseclick ononeend circleand drag toa new
position.
Whilemoving thecontrol this will slideontheboundary.
If weneed accurateplacement, Zoom and any snap options (see
Helpers) canbeused.
After placing the cutter we can:
Make Geodesic curve
Make Section curve

Get Selection
Theget selectioncommand will import selected curves from the
editor and used as cutting curves.
Wecanselect all typeof curves from cables toiso-curves for this
procedure.
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As Cutting Curves
This will import curves - as cutting curves - (likegeodesics) and
makepatterns based onthesecurves. Caremust betakenthat
these curves lie on the surface, there are no small missing
elements, and that they start and end at theboundaries of the
mesh. Incompletecurves shall not beused as cutting curves.
As Drawing Curves
This will import curves - as drawing curves - and they shall be
drawnonthepatterns after thepatterning is finished.
4.2.1.2 Multi Cutter

With the multi cutter option many cutter lines are
generated in a single step.
Aboveshownis a tutorial for making multiplelinear cuts. Below is
givena tutorial for making multiplecurves ina conical surface.
Wehavetoset thecutter positionas usual and theparameters:
N of segments
Seg distance
N of segments will set thenumber of rows inLinear modeand
theNumber of rays inRadial mode.
Seg Distance is thedistancebetweenrows inLinear mode, this
valueis not used inRadial mode.
After placing the cutting grid (radial or linear) call the make
Geodesic Curves or Make Section Curves to generate all grid
curves.
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Tip :
Make Geodesic and Make Section commands can be
found on the local popup menu that brings up with a
right mouse command in the graphical view.
4.2.1.3 Helpers

In the helpers pane we find commands to generate lines
and circles and show\hide distance helpers
Axis Helpers:
Usually for patterning oneneeds tohavea guidealong with which
oneneeds toaligntheir cutter tomakepatterns. It is possibletodo
that right insidethepatterner using "Helpers".
Under axes, wecreatehelper axis.
A helper axis is a linethat intersects thesurfaceboundary and can
beused for snapping thecutter toits intersectionpoints. This is
oftenused for symmetric lines.
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A help linecanbecreated with an angle in degrees from the
TensoGroup local X axis (whentherelevant boundary group is
selected) and a distancefrom its center point.
TheTensoGroup center point is thePolar center point for polar
meshes and thecenter of thebounding polygonfor grid typetenso
groups.
Tocreatea Helper Linejust input angleand distanceand click the
Createbutton.
It is alsopossibletocreatea helper by clicking on"pick points".
Thepick twopoints buttonwill wait for twopoints tobeinput and
createa linethat passing trough thesepoints with intersect the
boundary.
Circle Helper
Circles canbecreated by center and radius or by threepoints.
Usethis command inthetop view if drawing thecirclegraphically.
Circles are useful as boundary distance intersections can be
found inquickly and easily.
Distance meter helpers
Distancehelpers arefour (twofor radial mode) distancemeter
lines that help us placing thecutter at a fixed distance from a
point.
Thetext dimensions canbeedited intheSettings Preferences
Metrics Pane Distancemeter parameters.
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There are a few useful commands related to distance meter
helpers:
Moving a distancemeter tick with theAlt key pressed will
keep the distance between the tick and the cutter end
constant.
4.2.1.4 Importing selection & cutting curves
Inthis videowecanseehow mesh curves areimported intothe
patterner and used as cutting curves. Wecanof coursestill add
new geodesic and section curves to complete our patterned
model.
4.2.2 Make Patterns
We can enter the Make patterns module in two
different ways:
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1. Make Patterns : AutoPatterning after all seam cuts havebeen
generated
2. Patterns Tab : Just enter themakepatterns module
TheMakePatterns buttonwill detect all patches and flattenthem
to create 2d patterns. This process involves a lot of work in
detecting 3or 4 corners of thepatch toflattenthem ina accurate
way. if thepatch has morethan4 corners bad patterning can
occur and a manual adjustment will be needed. These bad
patterns aregenerally visually detected sincethey tend tohave
strangecurvatures and overlapped edges.
Oftenwejust want toenter theMakepatterns moduletochange
pattern properties. In this case nothing should be detected or
generated and clicking ontheMakePatterns Tab is herefor this
purpose.
Usually this is alsothepoint wheremost peoplemakea quality
check onthetypeof patterngenerated and if they should besent
for production.
Patterns module
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4.2.2.1 Making Patterns
Fig 101 developing triangles
Patterns are3D patches flattened. Beforewecanmakea pattern
a 3D patch is needed, thesearecreated automatically with the
MakePatterns buttonfrom withintheCutting surfacepane.
Patches arevisibleinthegraphic window and canbeactivated by
a mouseclick or by selectionintheTreeview list. Thecurrent
patch canhavea 2D patternalready defined or not.
Inthefirst casethepatternwill bevisibleintheleft view.
Unlike Earlier versions of Forten - Patches are converted
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to patterns automatically once geodesics are made and
the "make patterns" button is pressed. One no longer
needs to define seams - though this can be done
manually in rare cases where the patches have less than
or more than four edges.
In the above fig.a triangulated pattern is shown where we
understand what first and second seam lines do:
The3D patch surfaceis triangulated onthetwoseam lines and
flattened by developing thesetriangles.
Whenassigning seams manually - it is animportant task toset
seam linepoints inanaccurateposition, if necessary zoom infor
snapping patch points.
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4.2.2.2 Changing Pattern parameters
Fig.102 Make patterns pane
This paneconsists of all parameters that onecomes across while
patterning a surface. Though this canbedonelater much faster in
the"Detailing" tab.
4.2.2.3 Compensating
A very important task toperform onpatterns is compensationto
agreelevel of pre-stress tobereached.
Compensationwill reducethepatterninX and Y directionina way
that whenstretched it will reduce/ enlargetonormal size.
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Pattern compensation can be done with different inputs:
Pattern
With "% compensation in warp" (X) and "% compensation in
weft" (Y) thepanel is compensated. Theamount of compensation
inpercent %.
TheLock checkbox will lock theinput values. This is useful if
wewant toapply thesamevalues tomany patterns.
Wejust input the2 values , lock them then click onthepatterns to
modify and recall theApply command.
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This behaviour applies toall parameters that havethelock button.
Un-compensated compensated patterns (two
dimensional patch on the left and the 3D patch on the
right.
4.2.2.4 Offsets & Markers
Generally patterns haveoffsets as they overlap for seaming or for
cable pockets. This option is often used before sending the
patterns tocutting plotters.
Generating offsets is done by using the following steps :
1. Against the box of the particular seam edge (1 to 4) in
which the offset is required, input the distance.
2. If you need an offset of say 40mm for a seam - input
"0.02" for the outside and "-0.02" for the inside
respectively if our current units are set to m (meters).
3. Call the Apply button
4. You should now see the offsets on the screen.

Inside offsets should be input with negative values.
Point numbers canbeset tovisiblefrom Settings -> Preferences -
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> Patterner Pane-> Show nodes -> check.
pattern offsets
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Markers are small lines placed evenly on a edge to help
in the welding process.
To add markers to a edge
Select the edge ( 1-4 ) from the pull-down list box
Insert the number of markers required
insert the size of the markers ( inner size & outer size )
Recall the Apply command
Markers can be cleaned with the Clean markers
command
4.2.2.5 Flip upside down
This command will flip thecurrent patch. This shall flip thepatch
around 180 - this is used usually sothat thepatternmay nest
better.
This command does not mirror thepattern- just rotates it.
4.2.2.6 Notes on patterning
While we are in the Patterner we can continue using 3D
graphical views that help whenweareworking with complex
surfaces.
With themousewheel thegraphical view will Zoom dynamic
whileRight mouseclick will pandynamic if the view is in a
parallel projection(Top,Bottom,Right etc).
If theview is inparallel projectionright mouseclick will rotatethe
view and Shift + right mouseclick will Pan.
It is usually advisabletocheck thepatterns - especially for odd
shapes toseeif thepatterning is correct. Sometimes morethan
a singlerunis required for complex structures.
Wecanselect all of the patterns and apply compensations,
offsets etc at onegointheproductiontab. Though theeffects
aremuch thesame.
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The UP side of the patterns will be detected based on
the MESH ORIENTATION.
if you see mirrored patterns it is likely that your MESH
points in the wrong direction.
To fix this problem follow these steps :
From inside the Modeler
Delete the patterns & patch groups
Select the mesh and recall the command Edit->Flip
orientation
Re-enter the patterner and rebuild patterns
4.2.3 Production
Theproductionmoduleis whereweset up patternlayouts and
export them toCAD ( dxf or dwg ) ready toget printed or plotted on
our membranetoproduceworking patterns
example of a patterned surface in the production module
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4.2.3.1 Detailing pane
In this pane we find commands to add pattern offsets and
compensation. At thecurrent versionthesecommands arealso
found when flattening panels, but here are more intuitive and
simpletouse, sowesuggest tousethesecommands tomake
offsets and apply patterncompensation.
Selection tool bar
Select patterns
Select pattern edges
Select all patterns
Clear selection
Thesearespecial selectiontools that enableus toapply offsets
and compensation. Only selected patterns will be affected by
thesecommands.
4.2.3.2 Pattern welding offsets pane
Here we can apply offsets to pattern edges for
welding of pocket purposes.
The steps to follow are :
click ontheselect patternedgecommand
select pattern edges in the graphic view in the patch
assembly drawing
Fill inthedesired welding width
ActivetheMarkers check box and insert number of desired
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markers
Call theupdatepatterns command
Thevaluewespecify is considered thetotal welding width.
Patterns edges areoffset half outsideand half insideas shownin
figure.
Details of matching lines, patterning lines.
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A internal dashed lineis visibleand a red outsideline.
Markers aresmall lines at equal distancethat runfrom the2 offset
lines.
4.2.3.3 Pattern Compensation Pane
In this pane we specify pattern compensation
The steps to follow are quite simple :
Activate the select patterns command
Select patterns in the patch assembly drawing
Fill in the warp & weft compensation values
Call the update patterns command
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Patterncompensationis not visiblegraphically anywhere, sotobe
surewehaveapplied compensationthis is reported with used
values under each patternplot.
Thecompensated and 3d lengths canbechecked by selecting the
"display patternedgelengths" from options tab -> layout tab
Alternatively you canalso read the %age compensation in the
layout under each patterninfo.
4.2.3.4 Edge Decompensation
With this tool wecandecompensateedges of a a patternsothey
returntotheoriginal length.
This is useful when we have membranes connected on rigid
edges and stretching them toa compensated length is impossible
under construction.
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Select theedges todecompensateand click onthe
De compensate tool .
Wecanremovede-compensationfor selected edges with theUn
decompensate
or removeit for ALL patterns with thereset option.
4.2.3.5 Layout
From withinthelayout panewecanoptimizeand rearrangethe
layout of plotted patterns.
Generally wewould liketoseepatterns ina niceorder toavoid
mistakes inproductionpie-line.
Automatic Patterngenerationcould not follow any kind of order so
weneed a tool tofix this manually.
Theprocess is quitesimple:
Click ontheSelect patternbuttontoenablepatternselection
Click insidethepatterns oneat a timetoselect them inordered
sequence
Recall theReorder command
Now all patterns havebeenordered and plotted inthesequenceof
theselected items.
Flip patterns is used toflip us-sidedownpatterns and minimize
width will rotatethem until minimum width is detected.
Thesecommands arethesamewefind inthePatterner - patterns
Tab but herethey areeasier tousesincewehavea overall view
of all patterns.
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4.2.3.6 Decimation Pane

Oftenit is necessary toplot a small amount of points for each
pattern since we want to draw them by hand and so avoid
hundred of points that will requireages todraw.
For this reasondecimationoptions areavailableinthepanel.
This is quite a simple task :
activatedecimation
Insert number of Seam points ( edges 4-20 generally )
Insert number of End points ( edges 2-6 generally )
Cusp angleis toavoid loss of data whenthepatterndoes not have
a smooth edge. This is a valueindegrees (0 180) that tells the
softwaretotakecarewhenanglebetween3consecutivepoints of
theedgeis less thanthecusp anglevalueand toavoid losing the
middlepoint inthedecimationprocess.
Example of a pattern decimation
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4.2.3.7 Export Pane
Export current layout todxf-dwg file
You canalsospecify different layer names for your plotting, click
ononerow of thelayer list
and input a new layer name.
Dxf files will becreated using your new layer names

4.2.3.8 Option Pane
Here we have 3 panels :
Layout Options
Text Pane
Colors
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4.2.3.8.1 Layout

All values areinreal scaledimensions, soif weareusing meters
as our input units thesevalues will bemeters.
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production options pane
Border width : this is thethinborder around theplot
drawing (10cm 0.1 default value)
Inner offset : a invisibleborder of width inner offset is
applied topatterns and thebounding box. Changing this value
will reorganizethelayout tofit as best dimensions.
Flag Height : This value is the height of the
informationrow whereproject informationis plotted. Usea
valueof 10% of maximum height of themodel as a start
value.
Top/Bottom flag : this optionwill plot ontop or onbottom
of thetabletheinformationrow
Display point coordinates table : this optionis useful if we
have to draw manually the patterns (use with decimation
optionactivated togainbest results)
Display pattern edge lengths : very useful command to
display edge length of patterns in the assembly pattern
drawing. This option lets us catch any potential errors in
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patterngenerationand welding lengths of patterns.
Display pattern triangles: use with decimation activated.
This option again useful for drawing patterns points by
consecutivetriangleintersections (using circles)
Chamfer pattern offsets : with this optionactivated pattern
offsets arejoined ina straight angle.
Roll Width : Insert herethewidth of membraneroll used to
cut patterns. Any patternwider thanthis valuewill beplotted
with red X signtosignal a potential problem inthepattern
sinceit will not fit theroll whencutting.
Max pattern area error: Whenweflatted a non-developable
surfacea amount of error is always accumulated. Setting this
valuetoa desired toleranceif thedifferencebetweenthe3d
surfacearea and the2d flattened area is greater than the
tolerancea red cross will get displayed onthepattern.
Pattern edge toll: This is the tolerance used when
comparing 2d flattened edges versus 3d length of thesame
edge. if thedifferencebetweenthe2 lengths is greater than
thetolerancetheedge gets painted with a thick red line. Be
awarethat after weapply compensationthepatternbecomes
smaller soa small tolerancewill giveall edges painted tored.

Use the command Redraw View to regenerate the
display after changing one or more options.
4.2.3.8.2 Text Pane
In this panel we find all text size options :
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Coordinate output : mask = N of digits beforeand
after thedecimal dot (.)
Scale units by : (default 1000) if weareusing
metres and want toplot a tableinmillimetres wecanscale
values by 1000and usea 0for decimal digits.
Nodes : dimensionof nodesymbol
Table : height of text for tablepoints
Pattern Data : height of patterninforow
Pattern name & edge info : height of patternnameinside
patternassembly
System points : height of system points inthe
patch assembly drawing
Pattern system points : height of system points inthe
singlepatternlayouts.
Wehave2 different system point heights sincegenerally wewant
system points onthepatterns tobeprinted near thepatternpoint
and very small toavoid dirty patterns and loosing information(
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patterns arecut outs ) whileinthepatternassembly they should
bebigger tolet thewelding process easier for workers.
Example of different plot in the production display.
Patch Assembly : assembly of 3d patches intop view.
This drawing is used toselect patterns and patternedges
Pattern assembly : this drawing is useful for pattern
assembly and welding purposes. Here height of pattern
names and system points has tobebigger than in single
patternplot
Single pattern plot : thesedrawings areused toplot and cut
directly patterns onthemembrane. Warp and Weft direction
areVertical and Horizontal directions respectively.
4.2.3.8.3 Colors
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Here we specify colors used to plot drawing info
Clicking on any color shall change the corresponding
color to the layer.
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5 Structure of the software
ForTen relies on groups to model fabric
structures.
They are several type of groups each useful for handling
informationonthemodel beginworked on.
Groups areordered ina treestructure, this means that a Group
canhaveoneor moresubgroups.
A Group is a collectionof graphical or structural elements and is a
unionof twocollections:
Collectionof entities
Collectionof points (Point-Pool)
5.1 Main Groups
Here is a list of all groups the user will find
while working with the software :
Master Groups :
Tenso-Group thegroup that models fabric structures
Boundary-Group for collecting oneor moreTenso-Groups
as a singlesurface
Graphic-Group collectionof graphical entities - they are
not visibleinpatterning.
Mesh Group : this group consists data for Finite
Element meshes that canbeused for shells
Helper-Group this is a group that consists of lines and
curves for helpers inpatterning.
Cushions this is a special group for modeling
cushions and canhaveup to3sub-layers for thetop,bottom
and mid-layer membrane.
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Sub-Groups :
Tri-Mesh 3d triangular surfaces
Load Conditions collectionof Load groups
Load Group nodal, wind or pressureloads.
Patch Group a collectionof 3d SurfacePatches
PatternGroup a collectionof 2d Patterns
IsoCurve 3d surfacecurves
SectionGroup surfacesections
5.2 Entity Specification
The mathematical model we create of our
structure will be idealized with several types
of entities.
They are :
Nodes Connection between structural entities or
graphical entities
Tenso-Structural entities Tomodel structural behaviour
Boundary entities Special structural entities
Graphical entities Simple graphical elements like lines,
circles, polygons etc, tohelp designour model.
Special Graphical entities Triangle surface of a Tri-Mesh,
Quad surfaceof a Quad-Mesh , IsoCurves, SectionCurves
and all automatic generated surfacegraphical data.
3D Patch entities 3D surfacepatches that whenflattened
becomepatterns.
2D Patternentities Tomodel cutting patterns of a surface.
Cushionentities Tomodel, patternand analysecushions

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5.2.1 Nodes
Nodes are the simplest objects.
Theretwokind of nodes : Structural and Simple.
Structural nodes have X,Y,Z coordinates and six degrees of
freedom
Simplenodes haveonly X,Y,Z coordinates.
User does not specify thetypeof nodewhendrawing, this is done
automatically by thesoftware.
Structural nodes aredisplayed by icons that resembletherestraint
of thenode. Sincewenow haveonly onetypeof restraint (STIFF
restraint) wehavetoactivatethetypeof restraint plot wewant to
view. This canbedoneclicking onthenodes button .
node display options
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node properties can be changed on the fly
5.2.2 Structural Entities
The current version implements :
Cable - Membrane
Truss, Beams and Gaps
With cable elements 3d net surfaces and tensile structures
boundaries canbemodeled.
Membraneelements areused for fabric behaviour.
Truss elements areused for masts.
Beams areused for bending elements likearches and columns
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For cableand truss elements wemust specify thecross section
and thematerial this is donesimply by adding a cross section
tableand a material tableand joining them together ina seed then
assigning theseed tothedesired elements.
Linear membraneelements work differently, thesearenot really
3D surfaceelements but flattened cables.
Wemust assigna seed totheseelements but thecross section
is calculated by thesoftwareafter theform find process.
This becausewesimulatefabric behaviour with a cablethat has
E Module (Young)
Thermic expansion
Assigned by a material table and cross section calculated as a
width (L and not area L^2) calculated by thesoftware.
Toseethewidth's of membraneelements just ask infoelements
after theform find process.
Notethat thematerial properties assigned tomembraneelements
must beconsistent as :
If F (F) is theforceacting ontheelement and W is thewidth (L)
Stress S (F/L) is calculated as F/W
Length change AL (L) as
AL = (F * T0) / (E * W) whereT0 is theinitial length of the
element.
All this means is that E values for membraneelements must be
input as F/L and not F/L^2 as with other materials
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InFigureweseea nodewith four membraneelements
Membraneelement 3(from nodes 1 to3) with a width of 2.4935
units, membrane element 4 (from nodes 1 to 5) with a width of
2.3051 units.
5.2.3 Boundary entities
Boundary entities arespecial entities owned by Boundary Groups.
Theseentities areresponsiblefor keeping track of multi Tenso-
Groups joined together ina singleTensileStructure.
Boundary Groups (and Boundary entities) area powerful way
tomodel highly complex tensilesurfaces without dealing directly
which themesh.
Exampleof a boundary. Curves aremade with piecewise poly
lines, or closed curves that canbeimported or madeinixForten
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Theresulting surfaceafter meshing and form finding
5.2.4 2D Pattern entities
Patterns areflat sheets that joined together becomea 3D surface.
These aregenerated by a method called cut and flatten, this
requires a full understanding of good surfacepatterning .
exampleof patternlayout. TheX signals bad patterns ( bigger than
roll width )
5.2.5 Special Graphical entities
These are created by the software (for Tenso-Groups) by
analyzing thecablemesh.
Tri-Mesh models areused by several modules :
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Surface Sections
IsoCurves
Wind and Pressureloads
Pneumatic structures
Quad-Mesh models areused by fabric structures.
5.2.6 Graphical entities
Graphical entities canbedrawndirectly, but inmost cases they
areimported via DXFor 3DS models.
Very useful for exact and fast point placement using special snap
features.
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6 Modeler
TheModeler interfaceis themainWindow intowhich thesoftware
opens up. This is thearea inwhich thestructurecanbemodeled,
analysed, designed and checked.
6.1 File Menu
6.1.1 New
Clears all databases and prepares for a new session.
6.1.2 Open
Opens a ixForTenbinary file with extension*.tns
6.1.3 Import
Import a cad fileindxf , dwg or 3dm format
After selecting thefiletoopena dialog box will ask how toconvert
Layers found inthecad fileintofortengroups. Not all layers have
tobeimported.
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By selecting a sourcelayer (left) weadd it intheright column
choosing onof theavailableoptions:
Tenso-StructureGroup - to convert content to a tenso or
structuregroup
Cushions Group - imports thebound as a cushionboundary
group.
Fem-mesh Group - imports mesh as a FEM mesh.
Helper Group - imports lines, curves etc. as a graphic group
for patterning.
Boundary toconvert totheboundary of our model
Graphic Group to convert to a graphic group ( useful for
modeling and snapping purposes )
Selecting oneof theimported layers ( right side) wehavetoset
discretizationparameters if they areentities of order higher than
one(eg circles, nurbs curves or surfaces)
Be careful about the file units. ixForten reads the file units
and will convert the model according to model units set by
the user. if the file units are incorrect you get a badly scaled
model.
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In Forten 4000 Nurbs surface can be seamlessly
converted to FEM Mesh, structure and pneumatic
groups and can be easily analysed as SHELLS or
pneumatic structures. This is a quite new and powerful
feature in this release.
6.1.4 Last opened Files
Opens up a list of last opened files - convenient for tracking 10last
projects.
6.1.5 Save
Saves thecurrent work.
6.1.6 Save As
Saves thecurrent work with a new FileName.
6.1.7 Save as Template
This saves thecurrent fileas a template- Which canbeused
whenyou openup a new file- and usea standard set of units,
material properties etc.
save as Template dialogue box
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Input a useful descriptionbeforesaving and press Ok.
6.1.8 Export
Current model is exported incad format ( dxf and dwg up to
version2010)
Note :
If reaction vectors or any other plot option is active the
information will be found in the dwg file as graphic
entities.
6.1.9 Export Strand
Export thetensilestructuredatabasetostrand v7.0ascii format.
Strand is a high end FEM analysis packagewith geometric and
material non-linear capabilities.
Note: This command is available only with the NLM
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6.1.10 Capture View
Captureview asks for a filenameand saves thecurrent
view in*.jpg format
Note: be sure to activate a view by a mouse click inside
before calling this command
6.1.11 Exit
End of work
6.2 Create
6.2.1 Quad Surface
Opens up thedialog box for creating a quad mesh surface- which
canbelater used for a single/ doublelayer mesh surface.
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Inthis dialog box therearea lot of parameters - which help the
user todefineeasily a quad mesh surface:
No. of U points / No. of V points : Inthis wecaninput thenumber
of points inU / V directioninthenurbs surface. u directionis
defined by thefirst linecreated
Pre-Tension(C-valueU / V direction) : Inthis theC-valuecanbe
inputted for theU and V directionof thequad mesh.
Fixed Vertices : this optionhelps us fix thecorner vertices - keep
it checked - as it is preferabletohavetheend vertices fixed
whenwewant tohavea free-form quad mesh surface.
Next Edge(None, Cable, Beam) : this optionhelps defineif the
next edgeelement is going tobebeam a cableor none.
Edgegeneration: this optionis for situationwhenweneed to
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havea curved or a linear boundary element. For a cableelement
- it is advisabletokeep it online- sinceit shall automatically
takeC values and deform theedgeaccording tothesevalues.
Meshing Domain: This optionshould beleft onEnd Edge.
End : This is tocancel or finish thecommand.
Quad mesh : this optionis activeonly with URS enabled solver
End Mesh type
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End Point (only even edges) mesh type
6.2.2 Cone Surface
Opens up thedialog box for creating a conical mesh surface. This
has a variety of options that concernthehead-ring, theboundary
and other elements.
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Inadditiontotheparameters discussed aboveinthequad-mesh
window - the conical surface command has the following
parameters:
Radius : This concerns theradius of thehead-ring - which can
bechanged at any point of timeof executing thecommand - not
after executing thecommand.
Slanted : This optionis for tilting thehead-ring if you havea
conewith a tilted head-ring. This candoneanytimelater with the
conical control command too.
Ring-edge (Cable/ Beam): This parameter deals with thetop
head-ring - inwhich usually four nodes arefixed by default - and
a boundary element is generated - this canbeeither a cable
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element todevelop aneye-loop kind of head-ring or a beam
element toget a fixed top head-ring.
6.2.3 Cushion
Opens up a dialog box for creating a cushiongroup.
Therearetwotabs for thecushiongroup as described below:
Thecushiontab has thefollowing options:
Density ( U / V ): This deals with thedensity of mesh elements
intheU / V directions. Inthis wecaninput thenumber of points
inU / V directioninthenurbs surface.
Pre-Tension(C-valueU / V direction) : Inthis theC-valuecanbe
inputted for theU and V directionof thequad mesh.
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Layers: This optiondefines if wewant a cushionmesh with top
and bottom or with a middlelayer too.
End : This is tocancel or finish thecommand.
Quad mesh : this optionis activeonly with URS enabled solver
6.2.4 Cushion_grid
This is incontinuationtotheCreate-> Cushioncommand. This
opens up a dialog box for creating a cushiongroup.
It has thefollowing options:
No. of U / V Cushions : Creates no. of cushions intheU / V
direction.
ProfileU / V width : Hereonecanspecify thespacing between
cushions intheU / V directions.
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6.2.5 Edge Element
Creates anedgeelement.
This is a very useful command :
a) Select part of a mesh or a boundary edge
b) Recall thecreateedgecommand
if noEdgegroups exists a new onewill becreated automatically
and a new edgeelement
created insideit.
A edgeelement groups together a number of elements tosimulate
a cablefor example.
it is a convenient elements sincewecanspecify properties and
select it ina simpleway,
againthereport will giveinformationas a singleelement ( max
stress for example)
6.2.6 Project to surface
Projects selected entities tothesurface.
This is a useful command toproject curves imported from a dxf or
dwg file
ontothesurfaceand used for creating drawing curves or cutting
curvewith them.
Look at thevideotoseehow this command works.
6.2.7 Boundary Group
Add a new Boundary group
Boundary groups areused todefinetheclosed area ( or more
thanone)
that wewant tocover with a membrane.
Thesegroups will add automatically a boundary edgethat canbe
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specified
tobehaveas :
Cable : curves itself depending ontheprestress ( C
Value)
Beam : Fixes all nodes and membranetotheinitial
shape
Membrane: Likecablebut with low stiffness
With ixForten4000whileboundary groups arestill availablewe
suggest touseparametric quad and conesurfaces sincethey
generatebetter meshes and havea improved behaviour both
for patterning and analysis.
Boundary modeling canbeused whentheother methods fail to
model ina correct way membrane stress distributions ( for
examplehypars arebest modeled with boundary groups )
6.2.8 Tenso Group
Add a new Tenso Group
TensoGroups arethemaingroups used tomodel :
Membranesurfaces
CableNets
Cablesystems and tensegrity systems
Beam Elements alsocanbeadded intotenso-groups
Gap elements
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Intheimagethetrusses and supporting cables areput insidea
TensoGroup and controlled by stiffness ( not by ForceDensity
Method )
6.2.9 Graphic Group
Add a new Graphic group
Graphic groups arejust like layers in AutoCAD and other cad
systems. Geometry is just tohelp indesignof our mainmodel
with help of snaps and similar tools
6.2.10 Copy selected to new Tenso
Copies selected items toa new TensoGroup.
Theitems should bestructural entities likecable,beams truss or
membraneelements.
Graphical entities donot get copied

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6.2.11 Copy selected to current tenso group
This command copies thecurrently selected items tothecurrently
selected tensogroup.
Soit is basically a cloneintothecurrent activeTenso-Group.
6.2.12 Line
Createa lineintheactivegroup.
Lineprompts for twopoints , thesecanbedrawndirectly onvideo
or specified inthestatus bar edit control.
6.2.13 Poly line
Poly lines area number of consecutivelines.
Thesewill becreated onthecurrent UCS planeif nonodeis found
inthearea of thepoint clicked, if a nodeis found thepositionof the
new nodewill bethesameas this one. Tomakeuseof snapping
features thenodes must bevisibleand thegroup that owns them
unfrozen.
Whiledrawing thepolylinea right click ina View Window will bring
up a popup menu for selecting anintermediatechoice:
Undo Last Point Ignorethelast inserted point
Close Poly Closethecurrent multi line
End Poly End of insertion
Cancel Cancel theMulti Linecommand.
tocontinuewithout selecting a menu command just press theEsc
Key.
6.2.14 Polygon
Polygoncommand will prompt for thenumber of sides (max 63)
after which wecandraw thepolygonwith themousecursor.
Polygons will becreated ontheX-Y planeof thecurrent UCS .
Polygoncommand canbechosenonly whentheactiveGroup is
a graphic Group or a Boundary Group.
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A Polygonrequires thecentrepoint and a radius, thesecanbe
specified onvideowith mouse or input directly inthestatus line
edit control .
6.2.15 Circle CR
Createa circleby centrepoint and radius.
If thecurrent group is a Boundary or Tenso the circle will be
divided intoa number of fixed points.
If the current group is a Graphic group the circle will be a
parametric one, inthis casesnapping toits centrepoint and quad
points is active.
A circle requires the centre point and a radius these can be
specified onvideowith mouse or input directly inthestatus line
edit control .
6.2.16 Circle 3P
Createa circleby threepoints.
If thecurrent group is a Boundary or Tenso the circle will be
divided intoa number of fixed points.
If the current group is a Graphic group the circle will be a
parametric one, inthis casesnapping toits centrepoint and quad
points is active.
The comand requires 3 Points
6.2.17 Triangle
Thecommand will beenabled only if theActiveGroup is a Tenso
Group and has a Tri-Mesh Group as a child.
Threenodes must bechosenand a new triangleinthetriangle
mesh will begenerated.
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This command is useful for closing holes intri-meshes and fixing
bad meshes whenwepatternthemodel.
6.2.18 Footings
This command will generatefooting slabs onselected nodes.
The size of these footings can be changed from within the
properties panel
but donot influenceat all theanalysis or form finding stage, only
thefixity of nodes will bechecked
and set to"FIXED" beforeform-finding.
Thesizeand reinforcements canbeevaluated and checked within
theoptional module"ixFooting".
Theparameters of thefootings are:
Width , Depth , Height = sizeof thefooting
Platewidth , Platedepth = sizeof theconnectionplate
Rotation = rotationangleindegrees
Quote = offset downwards of thefooting relativetoits node
MinSteel % = minimum amount of steel inboth directions in
percentageof its cross sectionarea ( W *H and D * H )
Max Steel % = maximum amount of steel inboth directions in
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percentageof its cross sectionarea ( W *H and D * H )
Compute: Nothing , Size& Steel, Steel . For owners of the
footing modulethis options enables evaluationand check of the
footing sizeand reinforcements
Position: positionof theattachment point relativetothefooting
corners and edges
Minsteel % of cross sectionarea :
theminimum amount of steel will becalculated as a percent of the
cross sectionarea
for each direction
Minsteel X = L * H * ms/100
Minsteel Y = B * H * ms/100
whereB,L,H are the dimensions of the footing and ms is the
amount inpercent
Max steel % percent : if theamount of steel gets bigger thanthis
valuethenthefooting is considered not verified
Thesizeand reinforcement evaluationcanbelater checked with
the Plugins --> Footing command for those that have a valid
licenseenabled.
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Inthedialog box that brings up weassigna set of parameters for
theevaluationof thefooting sizeand steel reinforcement analysis.
MinB - Min L - MinH = minimum sizeof thedesired footing
slab
Max B - Max L - Max H = maximum sizeof thefooting slab
Thesevalues will be used to compute the footing size IFthe
footing has "Size& Steel" inthecomputeproperty.
Steel cover = thedistancebetweenthefirst rebar and theedgeof
thefooting
Thefinal sizeand amount of steel gets evaluated by checking the
forces ( reactionforces ) acting onthefooting.
Footing design parameters
Theseareused todesignthefinal footing layout.
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N sidebars = 2
Sidebar diameter ( mm )
Thesearealways needed (at least 2 corner bars )
Reinforcement bar diameter (mm) : this is the rebar used to
designtheslab.then of bars will beestimated by theamount of
steel from theanalysis.
Bar interspace: spacebetweenreinforcement bars
if thenumber of bars is high and thespacebetweenthem gets
bigger thaninter spacethenthebars will bespread onmorethan
onerow.
Design-Check footing
This command will runtheanalysis onall footings inthemodel.
it will bestop with a error if theanalysis is not updated.
flag passed footings as done
After a first runof theDesign& Check command it likely tohappen
that somefootings pass thedesignand somedonot.
If wechangeinput parameters ( Max B,Max L , Max H ) and run
againALL footings will get processed for a second time.
Toavoid this waist of timewecanclick onthis command and all
footings that havepassed will beflagged as "designed"
theredimensions and steel amount is saved and areskipped on
new runs.
Create footing layout
Hereall footing elements will get designed and a dwg filegets
generated as infigure.

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Output from the footing analysis command.
6.3 Edit
6.3.1 Undo
Undocommand will beenabled only if AutoSaveis enabled.
TheAutoSaveOn-Off flag canbefound inPreferences dialogue
box (AutoSavepanel).
6.3.2 Conical Control
Theconical control command is a quick way toplaceand edit the
top of a cone.
This command will work only for Child Tenso-Groups with a
conical mesh specified inits mesh parameters.
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Recall theEdit Conical control command
Optionally call there-draw window toseethecontrol
Click and drag thecenter point of thecontrol tomoveit
Click and drag ona control circletorotatearound its local
axis.
Note:
Make sure the center of the conical control remains
inside the tenso boundary.
6.3.3 Check clean invalid objects
This command will check the database and search for invalid
objects ( eg self linked objects ) and fix any problem.
6.3.4 Change Behaviour
This is a useful command for changing element properties in
relationtotheir current properties.
Inthedialoguebox weselect Add, Multiply or Change, thenweset
thedesired valueand theproperty tochange.
For exampleif wewant toscaletheC values by 10wecansimply
:
Check the multiply button
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Input 10.0
Check the C value
Click Okay toconfirm.
This command is oftenused tochangeC values for all elements
togainmoreor less pre-tensionwithout changing geometry.
Incontrast toearlier versions of Forten- this dialog box alsogives
us thepossibility of changing thepre-stress instead of theC-
value.
6.3.5 Flip orientation
For linear elements (cables, trusses ,lines etc) will invert
orientation(swap thetwonodes).
For triangular elements normal vectors will be turned upside
down.
Toseethecurrent orientationgotoplot tab-> Options-> Labels ->
object Axis. Check thedialog box toplot theorientation.
ATTENTION
The direction of normal vectors for Triangles is important for
Wind loads, Vector Loads, Pressure loads and Pneumatic
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Form Finding.
Also flattening the mesh when we pattern , the upside side
of the patterns will be in the same direction as the triangle
mesh
For pneumatic shape finding the internal pressure applied will
havethesamedirectionas trianglenormal vectors.
6.3.6 Move
Movenodes or selectionset.
Tomovea nodethis MUSTbevisible.
Un-hide nodes to be moved
Call the move command
Click on the node to move
Click on the destination position
Themovecommand is oftenused with snap options activated for
fast placing nodes inpositions wherewealready havegraphical
entities (centres of circles , end or middlelinepoints etc)
6.3.7 Rotate
Rotate objects around current UCS Z Axis.
6.3.8 Weld
Weld twonodes or thecurrent nodeselectionset.
Nodes canbewelded only if relying onthesamenodepool (must
benodes of thesameGroup).
6.3.9 Join A to B
This command is useful for snapping a selectionset of nodes to
another selection.
Works inthis way :
Set selection set to A.
Deselect all entities.
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Select Chain of entities
Go to selection B.
Select N entities
Select the command Join A to B.
Thecommand waits for 2 nodes
thesourcethat is thefirst nodeof selectionB and destination
nodethat
is thecorresponding nodefor selectionA
Nodes inselectionA will bemoved at thesameposition tothose
inselectionB.
6.3.10 Delete
All selected items will bedeleted
Undois availableif AutoSave featureis on(seeUndocommand).
6.4 Select
Selections area fast way tomodify, query or deletea number of
objects with a singlecommand.
Learning toselect and deselect objects canbeimportant toobtain
fast results without making mistakes.
Note :
All selection tools become de-selecting tools by holding
down the Control Key during selection.
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6.4.1 Selection A-B
This is a a kind of cachefor selectionsowedont havetore-
select objects if weneed tochangetheir properties later.
Compared toonly twocachememories earlier now you cansave
a seemingly endless number of cacheof selection. This is very
helpful whenyou areloading particular loads or whenyou want to
continuechanging and altering C-values or pretensionof only a
particular area of thestructure.
6.4.2 Clear
Clears theselection.
6.4.3 All
Selects all objects for theActiveGroup.
Note:
only Select All works on the active Group, all other
selection tools will work for all visible and non frozen /
hidden objects
6.4.4 Single / Painting
Selectionof singleobjects is doneoneat a timeby holding down
theleft buttonand choosing them. Selected items changecolor to
Yellow (default selectioncolour) as they areidentified.
To avoid selecting unwanted objects these can be hidden or
frozenbeforecalling theselectioncommand.
Holding the Control Key will deselect items.
6.4.5 Window
Selectionby window will select all items fully inside a window
specified by mouseinput.
Left click onceina view, moving themousewill show a rubber
window, left click toconfirm selection.
Esc key will cancel thecommand.
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Holding the Control Key will deselect items.
6.4.6 Fence / poly select
Select objects insidea 2d polygon.
Whilemaking thepolygon, a right click will bring up a popup menu
whereoptional commands canbeissued :
End Poly Confirm polygon
UndoLast Point Ignorethelast inserted point
Cancel Cancel thecommand
NOTE: Compared with the earlier version of Forten,
where you had to keep pressing the Shift key down with
the close option will select items inside the polygon in
this version - the polygon is always closed - and you no
longer need to press the shift key.
6.4.7 Circle
This command is useful for selecting entities bounded by a circle.
(likeconcentric weft curves etc)
Mouseclick thendrag themousecursor toopena circle.
Holding the Control Key will deselect items.
6.4.8 Warp
Select Warp lines will only work for Boundary generated Tenso
Groups or Meshed TensoGroups.
Thecommand will automatically select all warp cables.
6.4.9 Weft
Sameas Warp Lines but acts onweft lines.
6.4.10 Filter
As compared totheearlier versionthereis nofilter dialoguebox
wherewecanactivate/deactivateselectionof entity types.
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This is doneeasily by just clicking thetab buttons at thebottom of
the screen. This selects / de selects the filter - and
correspondingly toggles thefilters for that particular entity.
The filter is used often when we want to be sure to select
elements of a particular typefor editing its properties.
Be aware to keep active warp and weft options when
selecting membrane elements.
6.4.11 Property
Whenonewants toselect a group of elements by a particular
property thenonenolonger has tolaunch a box. This is now
included under the"Finder" tab.
Herewecanselect more than one entity by the ID, Property,
Group codeor theC-value.
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Toselect by property mark theproperty checkbox and theninput
desired values.
You must take into account that the current selection set ,
selectionmodeand selectionfilters areall activesocheck these
settings beforecalling thecommand.
ID :
This is theelement handle. Wecanselect morethanoneentity by
specifying a rangewith the"-" minus symbol (Eg. 100- 200will
select entities from 100to200included)
Wecanspecify a set of single values separating them by ","
comma (Eg. 100, 120, 150,200)
Property :
This is the seed property assigned to cable and membrane
elements.
Morethanoneseed property tables canbeselected from theseed
property list box.
Code :
This is thecableand membranecodevalues.
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Thesamerules apply as thosefor ID
C Value :
C Valueof cables and membraneelements
The same rules apply as those for Handle but here we
can input floating point values (Es. 100.50, 150.25)
6.4.12 Child / Tenso / Boundary
A new featurewith ixForten4000is that onecanselect all the
entities ina particular group by simply double-clicking thegroups'
iconinthe"browser" tab. A useful command as it is oftenneeded
toquick select all entities under a particular group for changing its
properties.
6.5 Tensile Structure
Under this menu themainfunctions related totensilestructure
can be found. These deal with the form-finding, analysis,
pneumatic options etc.
6.5.1 Form Find
Here we launch the Form-Find procedure
If we have specified a number of elements with the NL-
Deformabletag thentheNon-linear analysis
dialoguebox brings up. Wespecify N of increments/iterations
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and theparameters for energy,displacements and forces
If element constraints have been set the FDM (Force Density
Method) non-linear settings dialoguebox comes up.
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Here we specify number of iterations and the precision of
convergence.
After thenon-linear process thegeometry will be updated with
element stresses and nodereactions.
Be aware
FDM Non-linear option is quite complex to use and only with
cable systems is useful
use only if you are sure to understand all features of this
module.
6.5.2 Pneumatic Options
Thepneumatic options dialoguebox lets us specify an internal
pressureand thenumber of iterations toperform.
Activate the option by checking the Activate Pneumatic Form
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Finder.
With thecurrent versionPneumatic options cannot beused with
element constraints.
Beforeusing this optionweMUSThavea tri-mesh group for all of
our tenso-groups as surfacepressureis calculated at each step.
Hereis what happens with pneumatic optionon:
1. Mean Normal vectors are calculated at each node using
trianglenormals
2. Normal Pressureis calculated for theactual step
3. FDM equilibrated surfaceis calculated
Steps 1-3arerepeated for each iteration.
Thefinal surfacewill haveaninternal pressureand a membrane
tensioninbalance.
After form-finding a new load conditionis created and filled with
pressurenodal loads. This load condition is essential for non-
linear analysis becausethesurfaceis inequilibrium with these
forces.
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Pressure: internal pressure
FFincrements : N of increments used tofind final equilibrium
Analysis options :
Const PxV : this optionwill keep thePxV valueconstant when
running analysis by updating internal pressureP based oncurrent
geometry deformationat each iterationstep.
Const P : this optionwill keep theinternal pressureconstant at the
valuespecified for theform-finder step
Current Volume:
this valueis calculated automatically by thesoftware
6.5.3 Save as reference state
Important
Saves a particular geometry as a temporary reference state -
which canbere-called later if theform-finder delivers a particularly
undesirableresult.
USE ALWAYS THIS OPTION WHEN YOU HAVE BEAM
ELEMENTS
SINCE THE INITIAL AXIS ORIENTATION IS CACHED HERE
WITH THE MODEL NODE LOCATIONS.
6.5.4 Reload reference state
Re-loads thesaved referencestate - so that changes can be
made to the properties and parameters of the model before
launching theform-finder again.
USE ALWAYS THIS OPTION TO RELOAD THE ORIGINAL
MODEL AFTER FORM-FINDING WHEN YOU HAVE BEAM
ELEMENTS SINCE THESE TEND TO DEFORM AFTER
FORMFINDING.
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6.5.5 Non Linear Analysis
Here we launch the non-linear analysis procedure.
TheNon-linear analysis dialoguebox shownintheFigurecomes
up and wemust specify theload casefor which theanalysis is
performed and set calculus options inthesettings pane.
IntheActiveload casepanel a grid of load cases is visible. Here
wecanadd new rows with a right-click and calling theNew load
casecommand.
A load case is a linear combinationof all load conditions. Inthe
columns all thedefined load conditions arepresent with a numeric
factor.
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Specify a factor of 0.0todisabletheload and a factor of 1.0to
takeit intoaccount completely. Any valuecanbeinput sowecan
evenscaletheloads x times.
Theactiveload caseis theonewith thered checkbox activated.
How to set non-linear options will be explained in the
tutorials.
6.5.6 Animate
This particular optionhelps onetovisualizethedeflections / stress
states which arebeing incrementally applied tothestructure. In
this manner onecanplot theactual behavior of thestructureas
theloads arebeing incrementally being applied onthestructure.
This optionbecomes activeonly after a valid analysis has been
runonthemodel.
6.5.7 Check DOFS
Inthis command - ixFortenchecks the Degree of Freedom of
nodes - of thestructuretocheck if all of theDOFS areequal. If not
it returns anerror message.
6.5.8 Check Model
This is a command tocheck if thereareany anomalies with the
model. If there are any seeds without cross section, if the
properties or thestiffness of theassigned materials areokay or
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not.
6.6 Tables
6.6.1 Data Base Explorer
The DataBase explorer is where we define material
properties, cross section geometry and properties and
link them together in a named object called seed.
Thedialoguebox has threesections :
Material Data Base
Section Data Base
Seed Data Base
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6.6.1.1 Material DataBase
Here we create and specify building materials.
Tocreatea new material click ontheNew Material buttonor Right
Mouseclick inthematerial list box and select New Material.
Todeletea material select it inthelist and thenclick onDelete
Material or Right Mouseclick inthematerial list and Select Delete
Material.
A material has twosets of parameters :
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properties for cable-beam-truss elements
Thetop set is used by Cable-Beam and Truss elements whilethe
bottom set is used by membraneelement types.
Thetop set parameters are:
Young Modulus
Poisson ratio
Density
Thermal expansion coefficient
Thesearenormal material properties and canbefound in any
engineering book for steel, concrete, wood etc.
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The membrane properties has a table of 9 rows.
If theNonlinear material is enabled for each row wemust specify :
Force
E Warp Modulus
E Weft Modulus
If not enabled (default) wehavetospecify only E Warp and E Weft
inthefirst row.
E warp-weft areyoung modulus for themembraneinF/L (and not
F/L^2).
Generally these values are not specified on the manufactures
membrane technical papers, instead the elongation ratio is
specified.
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Theweight x unit area valueis theweight of themembrane. These
values areused for automatic self weight calculation.
The software can calculate automatically the E warp (Weft)
modulus
You just input the Warp Force and the elongation value then
click on the E Warp button
and the value is input in the E Warp ( weft) field of the
material.
6.6.1.2 Section DataBase
Inthesectiondatabasewespecify cross sectiongeometry for
beams trusses and cables.
Theuser is freetoadd / delete/ edit cross sections - eventhose
ones that havebeencreated by default.
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Tocreatea new profilesectionright click ona profilegroup and
call New profilecommand. A new profilewill beadded at theend
of thelist.
Click on this section to edit its parameters. The geometry
parameters will changedepending ontheir type (ie. Rectangle,
Circle, I typeetc).
We must always input correct values for :
Area : cross section area
Shear Area 2 : Shear area axis 2
Shear Area 3 : Shear Area axis 3
Inertia Axis 2 : Inertia Axis 2
Inertia Axis 3 : Inertia Axis 3
Torsional Inertia
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After inserting thegeometric properties wecansimply click onthe
Calc properties command and theprogram will calculatethesefor
us.
Theevaluated properties arevisibleintheproperties pane.
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ixForten4000calculates automatically Torsional inertia and shear
factors
based ona FEA analysis method.
6.6.1.3 Seed (Named property) DataBase
A Seed is a named object that simply links together a
cross section and a material
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With this its easy tomakeseeds and givethem a useful name
without needing toremember properties (ie. Wood 20x20or steel
HE 100)
If you want toadd a new property click on the "new property"
button. This will add a seed property without any cross sectionor
material. They canbespecified by right clicking theelement and
adding theappropriatesectionand material from thedatabase.
Right clicking a seed gives us thefollowing commands:
Find Material
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Find Profile
Import Material
Import Profile
Rename as profile : renames the seed using the profile
name
Rename as material : renames the seed using the
material name
Rename to both : renames the seed as profile name-
material name
Delete
Find material - will find theparticular material (if a material has
beenassigned totheseed profile)
Find profile- will find theparticular profilefrom thedatabase(if a
cross sectionhas beenassigned totheseed profile)
Import material - Will import a material.
Import profile- Will import a profile.
Delete- will deletetheseed profile.
Onecansimply renameany section/ seed / profileby selecting it
and changing its properties from theentry box at thetop of the
window. Renaming a seed canalsobe done according to the
sectionor thematerial by double-clicking theseed. This alsoadds
theparticular seed tothecurrent library of thefile.
Tospecify its material and cross sectionjust doubleclick onthe
desired section/material or right click onthesection/material and
call thepush incurrent seed command.
DeleteSeed (or del button) will destroy theseed. If thedialogue
box is closed using cancel theseed will not belost.
"Add to model" makes this seed available for use in our
structure. If theused seed list is empty, noseeds will bevisible
whenwecall theEdit Properties dialoguebox for elements.
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Find Material and Find Section areuseful commands for finding
theseeds material and sectionproperties which canbea tedious
job whenmany sections/materials arepresent.
6.6.2 Show Materials and Sections
This command will print informationabout used seeds with Cross
sectionlist and properties and Material list properties.
It is a useful command as a property check is done and any
potential errors and nonuniform values areprinted.
Note:
Use this command before Form Finding or statical
analysis to check consistency of materials and sections.
6.7 Loading
This menu deals with theapplicationof loads toa mesh surface.
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6.7.1 Add load condition
This command prompts for a nameand thencreates a new Load
condition.
Load conditions collect loads onentities and nodes.
Toadd a load wemust :
A. Create a load condition
B.Select entities to load
C.Call a load command from the local popup menu of the
load in which we want to add
load groups in the tree view
If noentities areselected ixFortenwill returna dialog box with an
error message"Empty Selection"
6.7.2 Add self-weight condition
Adds a new Self-Weight Load condition if this case has
been accidentally deleted or not added.
Toadd loads seelater onLoad Group commands.
A self-weight load group is a particular load conditioninwhich the
dead-weight of theselected material and seeds areapplied. This
load is applied inthenegativeZ directioni.e. vertically downwards.

Note: Only one Self-Weight Load can be created.
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6.7.3 Add Pre-stress condition
This is a Prestress multiplier load condition
Noloads canbeadded toa Prestress-Load condition
sincethis is used only toscaletheoverall prestress by a specified
factor intheanalysis process as required
by somecodes
6.7.4 Add Zero-Load condition
This adds a Zero-Load condition.
This is a peculiar load conditionas it applies a zeroload - only to
nodes.
A zeroload conditionis added intheform-find process
and sothefinal shapeafter form-finding will beinequilibrium with
applied loads.
6.7.5 Add Load
Enter topic text here.
6.7.5.1 Nodal loads
Add nodal loads to the current selection set.
Thedialoguebox showninFigurecomeups with PX,PY and PZ
component input.
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Positivevalues areinoppositedirectionof World Axis (Vector F
(0,0,100) is a vertical load that points down).
6.7.5.2 Cable-Beam loads
Add a uniform cable load
Thedialoguebox showninFigurecomeups with P1 (Forcex unit
length), at a distancea from theselected end.
If required anadditional load from theother end P2 canbeadded
with a distance'b' from theother end.
The global axis can also be specified to enable the correct
simulationof theload.
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Positivevalues areinoppositedirectionof World Axis.
6.7.5.3 Pressure loads
Add a uniform pressure to the current selection set of
triangles
Thedialoguebox showninFigurecomeups wherea pressure
valueF/L^2 (Forcex area) must beinput.
A positive value is interpreted as a pressure in the opposite
directionof normal vectors.
Check directionof normal vectors toensurecorrect loading.
Beforeanalysis, pressureloads areapplied as nodal loads with
theformula :
nl = (pl * ta)/3; nl= nodal load, pl = pressureload, ta = triangle
area
This command requires a Tri-Mesh sub group to work.
6.7.5.4 Vector loads
A vector and twocoefficients arerequested. Thevector direction
gives the load direction while the modulus indicates the force
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intensity.
Thesoftwarecalculates for each selected trianglethenormal and
shear component of the load for the triangle normal vector,
multiplies these by the specified coefficients and the triangle
surfacearea and applies theresulting valuedivided by threeto
thenodes.
This command requires a Tri-Mesh sub group to work
6.7.5.5 Thermal loads
Add a thermic load DT on the current selection set.
Note: Only cable, truss and membrane elements can
have thermic loads.
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6.8 Info
6.8.1 Project info
Hereweinput project infodata.
Thefields will beprinted inthepatternplots and inthereports
generated by thereport manager
6.8.2 Report Manager
This command recalls the report manager.
Hereweareabletoview and print all data as text or tableformat.
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Ontheleft sideweseeall availableinfoitems, double-clicking an
item inthecontent gets it displayed ontheright side.
Note:
Units and Number formatting can be changed from within the
Setting->Preferences->Report Setup paneas infigure:
TheModel Report Group will control output for all items inthe
model group tree.
TheResponse Reports will control units for analysis results
except for displacements
TheDisplacement Report controls units for displacements
The Property Data controls units for Materials and Profile
properties
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Items are :
Model Items
Header : a text document wheretheproject infogets printed
Model : Root item for model data
Nodes : tableof nodecoordinateand fixities
Elements : Root for entity data
Cables : list of cableentities
Steel : list of truss, beam entities
Membrane : list of membraneentities
Tri-Mesh : list of triangleentities
Seeds : List of used material-sectionentities
Load conditions : all loads added by user
Bill of materials
Bill of Materials: root item for material summary
Membrane Area: Membranearea evaluation
Cable list : used cables (Group code)
Steel list : weight of used steel
This item is quiteuseful for estimating costs.
It will print length of cables, surfacecovered by membraneand
steel weight of thestructure.
Form Find response data
FF Response : root item for FFresult data
Pretension Reactions : Reactionforces after form
finding
FF EL Results : Pretensionvalues after form-finding
FF membrane : membranepretension(Linear pre-stress)
FF cable : cablepretension
FF Strand : Boundary Strands grouped by code
FF steel : steel tensions
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FF Tri-Mesh : membranepre-stress
Analysis Results
Results for each load caseas reactionforces pre-stresses and
steel tensions
Node reactions
Node displacements
Element forces
Repeated for each load case
6.8.2.1 Model Item
Herewefind all informationof our model.
6.8.2.1.1 Nodes
N : nodenumber
FFrestraint : form find restraint flags
NLA restraint : NonLinear restraint flags
LA restraint : Linear restraint flags
X : X coordinate
Y : Y coordinate
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Z : Z coordinate
6.8.2.1.2 Elements
Follows thelist of elements grouped by type.
6.8.2.1.2.1 Cables

N : Index of element
NodeA : Index of first node
NodeB : Index of second node
Type : typeof elements
C Value: Forcedensity valueused tofind shape
C user : Forcedensity valueassigned by user
Pre-stress : forceacting inthedirectionof the2 connected
nodes
Area : Cross section area (L^2) for beam,truss,cable
elements . Width (L) for membraneelements
Length : Length between2 connected nodes
Seed : seed assigned tothis object
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6.8.2.1.2.2 Steel
N : Index of element
NodeA : Index of first node
NodeB : Index of second node
Type : typeof elements
C Value: Forcedensity valueused tofind shape
C user : Forcedensity valueassigned by user
Pre-stress : forceacting inthedirectionof the2 connected
nodes
Area : Cross section area (L^2) for beam,truss,cable
elements . Width (L) for membraneelements
Length : Length between2 connected nodes
Seed : seed assigned tothis object
6.8.2.1.2.3 Membrane
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N : Index of element
NodeA : Index of first node
NodeB : Index of second node
Type : typeof elements
C Value: Forcedensity valueused tofind shape
C user : Forcedensity valueassigned by user
Pre-stress : forceacting inthedirectionof the2 connected
nodes
Area : Cross section area (L^2) for beam,truss,cable
elements . Width (L) for membraneelements
Length : Length between2 connected nodes
Seed : seed assigned tothis object
6.8.2.1.2.4 Membrane Mesh
N : Index of element
Node(i) : nodeindex ( 1-3)
Area : trianglearea
Covered : trianglearea projected inX-Y plane
6.8.2.1.3 Seeds
List of used seeds ( a seed is just a named object used to
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associatea material with a cross section)
6.8.2.1.3.1 Materials

Thelist of used materials with thereassigned properties
6.8.2.1.3.2 Cross Sections
Thelist of used cross sections with thereproperties
Name: Nameof theseed element
Area : Area of thec/s
I2 : Second moment of Inertia
I3: Moment of Inertia around theother axis
It : Torsional Moment of Inertia
F2 / F3: shear areas.
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6.8.2.1.4 Load Conditions
Herewefind all load conditions and for each onethelist of applied
loads with values input by user.
Element No. : Defines theElement no.
Load Type: Gives thetypeof loads - vector, pressureetc.
P(x) / P(y) / P(z) : Forces inx, y, z axes.
Nc : Normal Component
Tc : Tangential Component.
6.8.2.2 Bill of Materials
Here we have a summary of used materials for a fast cost
estimation
6.8.2.2.1 Membrane Area

Each Tenso-Group is listed with surfaceand covered area
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At theend thesum of all rows is reported.

6.8.2.2.2 Cable List

Thelist of cables grouped by code
Code : codeassigned by user intheelement properties
pane
Seed : seed (material and cross section) for this cable
Length : Overall length (sum of all cableelements with
samecode)
Weight : weight of thecable
A "TYPE-MISMATCH" means that there are more than one
elements which sharethesameCode- but not thecableseed
properties.
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6.8.2.2.3 Steel List
Steel report lists all truss and beam elements grouped by their
codenumber.
6.8.2.3 FF Response
Theseitems report results of theform-finder.
6.8.2.3.1 Pretension Reactions
Herereactionforces for pre-stress stateareplotted: Notethis is
without any self - weight of themembers.
No. : Nodenumber
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X, Y, Z : co-ordinates of thenodes inX, Y, Z axes.
Fx, Fy, Fz : Forces inX, Y, Z axes
Mx, My, Mz : Moments inX, Y, Z axes
Fv : Vector Force
6.8.2.3.2 FF El.Results
HereTheform-find element results areplotted.
6.8.2.3.2.1 FF Membrane-Cable-Steel
N : element index
N : axial force
T1 : shear forceaxis 1 (Only beam elements)
T2 : shear forceaxis 2 (Only beam elements)
Mt : bending moment z axis (torque) (Only beam
elements)
M2 : bending moment x axis (Only beam elements)
M3 : bending moment y axis (Only beam elements)
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6.8.2.3.2.2 FF Tri-Mesh
Herewefind tri-mesh membranestresses, basically therearethe
values plotted with show s11-s22 and VonMises stress options.
6.8.2.4 Analysis Response
All items under theAnalysis Responseitem basically report the
samedata as FFResponsefor each load case,
Only theNodal Displacements item is new sincewedon't have
any nodemovement for a Form-Finding process
6.8.2.4.1 Node Displacements
N : nodeindex
X,Y,Z : nodeposition
dx,dy,dz : nodedisplacement
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rx,ry,rz : noderotation(radians)
dv : total displacement magnitude
6.8.3 Query Distance
After selecting Infodistancewemust click ontwonodes ina view,
thedistancewill bedisplayed inthecaptionbar onthebottom of
thescreen.
6.8.4 Selected Objects
Infoobjects is useful as it shows all theinformationonselected
entities. Touseit wemust makea selectionof nodes or entities
and thenclick onInfoObjects,
a fileeditor will show all information(below is anexampleof a file
for Infowith a node, structural and membraneelements selection).
This is for knowing what has beenassigned as property tothe
selected entities, their length, prestress etc.
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6.8.5 Form Find Info
For theselected items this command will visualize information
about pre-stress and reactionforces.
This is a old command seethe report manager command for
moredetailed informationof thecurrent model.
6.8.6 Analysis Info
For theselected items this command will visualize information
about thecurrent analysis if valid. This command is very helpful
whenyou want tohavea quick infoabout a particular member or
selectionwithout having to go through and locate the property
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through thereport manager.
This is a old command seethe report manager command for
moredetailed informationof thecurrent model.
6.9 Visibility
This is a new menu inixForten4000which has theenhanced
capability toshow / hideentities by selecting them.
6.9.1 Hide/show Nodes
This is a global switch tohide/unhidenodes
This is similar totheshow/hidenodes command of the earlier
versions of Forten.
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This canalsobeoperated by clicking thebuttonontheright side
top corner.

6.9.2 Hide/Show Entities
This is a global switch tohide/unhideentities
This command shows or hides selected entities. If a particular set
of entities arehiddenit shall show all hiddenentities.
6.9.3 Hide/Show Mesh
This is a global switch tohide/unhidemesh elements
This command shows / hides mesh elements for the overall
model.
6.9.4 Hide Selected
This command will Hideall theselected entities. Theselected set
may becomposed of mixed groups or a singletype. Oncehidden
a command cannot berunonthem.
6.9.5 Hide Not-Selected
This command Hides un-selected entities .
Simply it leaves visibleselected objects.
6.9.6 Flip Visible/Hidden
This command Flips thehidden- non-hiddenentities. This way
onecanflip betweenthehiddenset of entities and thenon-hidden
entities.
6.9.7 Un Hide
This command removes all entities from the hidden set - and
displays all entities.
Usethis command tobesureall entities arevisible
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6.10 UCS
UCS stands for User CoordinateSystem, this is a coordinate
system with a positionand orientation
intheWCS (World Coordinatesystem).
Many of theFortencommands usetheUCS soweneed a way to
placeit somewhereinthe3D space.
6.10.1 UCS Store/Recall
Savethecurrent UCS positionfor later use- This is possibleby
positioning theUCS by the"UCS Generic" command and then
typing a nameand pressing thesavebutton. This is availablefrom
thetoolbar not themenu.
It is important toinsert a namefor theUCS and call thestore
command.
6.10.2 UCS World
AligntheUCS totheWCS (HomePosition).
6.10.3 UCS Vertical 2 Points
PlacetheUCS X-Y planevertical
Twopoints must beinput using themouseclick
6.10.4 UCS Generic
Threepoints must beinput using threemouseclicks denoting the
points wheretheUCS is tobelocated.
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6.10.5 UCS Place
Movetheoriginof theUCS toa new position.
Thenew origincanbespecified by keyboard input or by mouse
click ona node.
6.10.6 UCS Normal X
PlacetheUCS Z Axis parallel totheglobal X axis.
A positioninspacemust beinput by a mouseclick ona node.
6.10.7 UCS Normal Y
PlacetheUCS Z axis parallel totheglobal Y axis.
A positioninspacemust beinput by a mouseclick ona node.
6.11 Scripting
The new scripting environment is based on a full Javascript
language.
Sinceit is quitelargeand full of features a dedicated manual will
be prepared on this topic and with useful topics on how to
personalizethesystem with scripts.
You canrefer totheavailablescripts tolearnhow thenarewritten
by right click onthescript command toseefull sourcecode.
6.12 Settings
Compared totheearlier versions of Forten- which camewith only
oneskin, ixForten4000comes with threeskins which enhance
theoverall experienceof working with thesoftware.
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6.12.1 Preferences
Most of thesoftwareoptions areset inthis dialoguebox.It has 11
panes each with different typeof parameters.
By default it opens up intothe"Units" Tab.
6.12.1.1 Editor Pane
Here we set parameters for :
Font heights
Nodes : height of nodenumbers onvideo
Objects : height of element handles onvideo
Triangles : height of trianglehandles onvideo
Grid
Thick line every : Draw a thick lineusing this step
Width : Grid Width
Height : Grid height
Dx spacing : Grid X spacing
Dy spacing : Grid Y spacing
Grid in Global system : Always draw the grid in the
global coordinatesystem
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Colors
Window : background window color
Nodes : FreeNodes color
Restraints : Restrained nodes color
Selection : Selected elements color
Contrast Color : Color used todraw infoonvideo. Always
usea color which contrasts with thebackground
Grid Color : Color used for thegrid.
Plot Colors
Analysis Forces : Color for reactionforces
Form Find Forces : Color for form-find reactionforces
Deformed shape : color used toplot deformed shape
Beam+ : color used to plot beam positive
diagrams
Beam- : color used to plot beam negative
diagrams
Misc
Node symbol size :sizeinpixels of nodes onvideo
Picker size :sizeof picker for snap inpixels
Membrane width :size of membrane stripes for plot
purposes inreal units
Blending
Blending value0-100% for transparent membraneplotting.
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6.12.1.2 Patterner Pane
Here we set options used in the patterner module.
These are :
Show nodes : hideunhidepatternnodes
Pattern color : color used tofill pattern
Point text color : color used for thetext
Text point height : height of patternnodes font
Anchor size : Dimension of anchor symbol
used inthelayout window too
Boundary Ticks:
Tick size : height of ticks inreal units
Tick color : color used toplot ticks
Tick distance : relativedistancebetweenticks
Roll width : Roll sheet sizefor patterns
Grid X-Y : Patterngrid spacing
Join pattern offsets : fillet patternoffsets
Ticks areuseful for placing thecutter at exact positions onthe
boundary.They canbeused by activating View Show Boundary
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Ticks and View Snap toBoundary Ticks inthepatterner module.
6.12.1.3 Metrics Pane
In the metrics pane we specify useful values for :
Distance meter
Font height : height of text onvideoinreal units
Font dist : dist of font from distance line in real
units
Marker size : sizeof marker at end points of distance
meter line
Thedistancemeter parameters areused by twoprocedures
1. Whenwequery a distanceintheeditor
2. Whenweusethecutter inthepatterner module
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Distance meter parameters
Scale Factors
Loads
Deformations
Stresses
ReactionForces
Minimum Forceintensity tovisualize
Membranestress direction
Thescalefactors areused toscaleplots inwindows. It is possible
toplot different items indifferent views, but whenonerefreshes
theview this would change.
Visualizing theminimum Forceintensity is important as it is a
cutoff value. Any reactionforces smaller thanthis valuewill not be
plotted or printed.
Note: Some of the plot scale factors are also found
under the Plot tab for easier access.
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Min and Max interval for plots
Thesetwovalues arecutoff values. Whenplotting stresses only
stress values insidethespecified rangewill beplotted.
Interval for Normal surface
Herewespecify therangefor normal surfaceplots.
Normal surfaceplot canbeactivated with View : Plot Options
Mesh Angles toglobal X-Y Plane.
This plot featureis useful tofind out any ponding problems as it
represents thecurvatureof thesurface.

6.12.1.4 Miscellaneous Pane
In the miscellaneous pane we set options for :
Text height of vector : height of text for reactionforces
Erase automatically triangles in polar meshes : usethis
optiontomaketheholeinthetri-mesh for conical shapes.
Plot Free Body reaction forces : reaction forces are
inverted.
Simplified UI for restraints : Offers simplified UI interface
whereonly Stiffness is displayed. Below is givenanimageof
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detailed UI for restraints.
Check rotation restraints automatically: this command
checks for rotational restraints automatically beforelaunching
theform-finder and analysis.
6.12.1.5 Auto Save Pane
Create backup every ... minutes
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ixFortenrelies onback-up cachefiles for its Undofeature. Henceit
is important toclick "enableautosave" toavail of theundofeature.
The software will save the work at intervals of the minutes
specified if Enableautosavefeatureis checked.
If createbackup copy is checked, a copy of thelast fileis saved
using *.bak extension.
If enableautosaveUndofeatureis enabled theUndocommand is
enabled when we modify the geometry or call other edit
commands.
If "load last work onstartup" is clicked - ixFortenshall load thelast
filetheuser was working on.
6.12.1.6 Precision Pane
In the precision pane we find parameters for :
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Export
Dxf precision : Number of digits whenwriting dxf files
Ascii precision : Number of digits whenwriting ascii files

Dxf Import
Weld Precision nodes aremerged together if thedistanceis
inferior totheweld precision
N of segments for circles and arcs : Whenimporting Dxf
files as Boundary or Tenso Meshes circles and arcs are
converted to discreet polygons. Here we specify how many
segments should begenerated
Boundary
Welding boundary nodes : here we specify the welding
precisionfor nodes ontheboundary. This valueshould always
bekept inmind beforeform finding.
Note: Remember to set this value before form finding.
Patch and Pattern Precision
Intersection eps : This is thethresholdvaluefor intersection
betweenseam lines.This valueaffects thealgoritm that finds
patches.
Geodesic eps : Precision for geodesic search algoritm. If
geodesic curvecommand fails towork check this value(higher
value)
Snap
Linear Snap : Snap precisionused whenmoving the
patterner cutter
Grid X-Y snap : Grid snap used whensnap togrid is
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activated
Angle Snap : Anglesnap valueindegrees used when
anglesnap is activated
Surface cutter patch detection:
Slicer offset : This valueis very important for patch
detectionand should havea valuenear 1 cm for optimal results
6.12.1.7 HPGL Pane
Parameters of this pane are used when HPGL files are
written.
Plotter
Width and Height of plotter inmillimetres
X and Y marginof plotter inmillimetres
Origin
Originof theplotter inX and Y - if this is at theleft-bottom / center
or user defined. By default this is inmm.
Resolution
Number of Plotter units per millimeter, look at the reference
manual of your plotter.
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Output
Scale : Scaleof thepatterns.
No. of mm per dwg units : Deals with the division of mm per
drawing unit.
Fileextension : thenameof thefileextension.
Writea singleHPGL file: Writes all the patterns into a single
HPGL file.
End patterncommand : Specifies what command will mark the
end pattern.

6.12.1.8 Units Pane
In the units pane we specify model and force units for
input and output.
Available units are:
Length units
Millimeter
Centimeter
Decimeter
Meter
Inch
Yard
Feet
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Force Units
Kilogram
Newton
DecaNewton
KiloNewton
Note : When we use different units in the Data Base
explorer for input purposes these are automatically
converted to input units specified in the Units Pane.
6.12.1.9 Form Finder Pane
With thepossibility of using different types of solvers emerging -
ixFortengives thepossibility of using analternatesolver for form-
finding. Amongst them are:
FDM - Force density method ( default internal solver )
URS - Update Reference Strategy
Select which solver theform-finder is going touse. Direct Sparse
is thenew fast direct sparsesolver. URS is a solver developed by
Kai-UweBletzinger , Gerrry D'Anza and Johannes Linhardt and its
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thesamesolver used inthefamous RhinoMembraneplugin.
Note: URS solver is a optional moduleand a licensehas tobe
purchased toenabletheoption.
6.12.1.10 Report Setup Pane
This panedeals with theoptions of setting up units for theReport
Manager.
Model Report:
This deals with the format of units as they shall be seen
in the report of the model.
Lengths : plots lengths in____ units
Format : format of units (ine+00/ .00)
Forces : Plots forces in ____ units
Format : format of units (ine+00/ .00)
Response Plot:
This deals with the format of units as they shall be seen
in the response plot
Lengths : plots lengths in____ units
Format : format of units (ine+00/ .00)
Forces : Plots forces in ____ units
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Format : format of units (ine+00/ .00)
Displacement Report:
This deals with the format of units as they shall be seen
for displaying displacements.
Lengths : plots lengths in____ units
Format : format of units (ine+00/ .00)
Property Data:
This deals with the format of units as they shall be seen
for data of properties of seed and section elements.
Lengths : plots lengths in____ units
Format : format of units (ine+00/ .00)
Forces : Plots forces in ____ units
Format : format of units (ine+00/ .00)
Info Text:
This deals with thesetup of thefont for theinfo-text (all text related
tothetitle, heading, dateetc. )
Table Text:
This deals with thesetup of the font for the table-text (all text
related tothetable, force, dimensionvalues etc. )
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6.12.2 Dark UI
6.12.3 Plastique UI
6.12.4 Windows UI
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6.13 Toolbar
This menu deals with thevisibility of thetoolbars onthescreen.
Clicking menus toggles their visibility.
6.14 Help
Recalls thehelp system
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6.14.1 License Key
Launches thedialog box for inserting thecodefor thelicensekey.
6.14.2 Contents
Opens up theHelp file
6.14.3 ForTen On the Web
Link totheForTenweb page www.forten32.com
ixForten4000Forum at www.ixcube.com Forum tab ( http://
www.tsicompany.it/phpbb/ )
6.14.4 About
Dialoguebox box with infoonthesoftwareversionand copyright.
6.15 Views
Compared to the earlier versions of Forten, this version does
away with themenu of View. This is now situated at thetop of
each of theview windows. By default wehavenow four viewports.

Therecanbefrom onetofour views active, each with its own
viewing parameters (projection, plotting options etc). Tominimize
/ maximizetheview weclick onthetop right corner buttononany
particular window.
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6.15.1 Set Layout
Clicking ontheview buttonwill givetheuser a pull-downmenu
letting theuser select thecurrent projectionfor thecurrent view :

They can also be directly selected by simply pressing the
corresponding keyboard shortcut - for example parallel
projection can be activated directly by pressing the "P" key
on the keyboard.
6.15.2 Render Shaded/Wireframe
Render inwireframe( lines only ) or shaded mode.
Inshaded modebesuretounhidetri-mesh toview thesurface.
6.15.3 Zoom Limits
Zoom totheextents of themodel
6.15.4 Zoom current
Zooms theview tothecurrent selected group.
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6.15.5 Zoom selected
Zooms totheselected entity / entities.
6.15.6 Zoom window
Zooms intoa window specified intheview by clicking two
points by themouse.
6.15.7 Hide/Unhide Grid
Show/Hidegrid Grid settings canbe found in Settings :
Preferences
6.15.8 Align to UCS
Alignthecurrent view totheX-Y Planeof thecurrent UCS
6.15.9 Maximize/Minimize
MaximizeMinimizethecurrent view.
6.15.10 Change background
This pull-downmenu helps us tochangethebackground of the
window:
Thepull-downmenu gives thefollowing options:
Flat : If this optionis selected - thebackground shall
bea flat one- with a singlecolor.
Flat color : This specifies theflat color tobeselected.
Gradient : If this option is selected, it shall display a
gradient color background
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Bottom Color : This specifies thebottom color of thegradient
Top Color : This specifies thetop color of thegradient.
6.16 Plot options

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6.16.1 Plot Options Pane
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Plots: Options pane
Loads: plots onthecurrent view - theloads that arespecified
ina particular load case- scaleof theplot canbechanged by
inputing in"scale".
Units: Gives thepossibility tochangetheunits inwhich the
plots areshown. By default this is at theModel Units.
Ranges: Gives therangeof theplot - Min/ Max values and
color. Also "auto" can be turned on so the plot range is
computed automatically by thesoftware.
visualization of mesh angle to x-y plane
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6.16.2 Plot Options Labels
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Here the labels can be selected for plot:
Node Numbers : "false" by default. Click this toplot onvideo
nodenumbers.Theheight of thefont canbeinputted inFont
Size.
Element Numbers : plots onvideolinear element numbers.
Theheight of thefont canbeinputted inFont Size. Thefont
sizefor objects controls alsothesizeof axis frames and end
releases.
Mesh Numbers : plots onvideomesh element numbers.
Theheight of thefont canbeinputted inFont Size.
Group Code : Will print onvideofor all linear elements its
group code. "false" by default. Group codes areuseful for
grouping elements whenprinted from thereport manager.
Object Axis: Activating this option, orientationof objects will
beplotted with arrows. Orientationcanbechanged with Edit
"flip orientation" command. Thesizeof thedisplayed iconis
proportional totheelements Font size.
End Releases: this optionwill activatetheplot of any end
releaseassigned tobeam elements.thesizeof theiconaxis
is proportional totheelements font size.
Slope colors: Plots thesurfacenormal angle. This is useful
when plotting if the structure is going to be subjected to
ponding behavior. Activating this option scale color and
surface is drawn (in shaded mode), The colors give
informationabout theangle(indegrees) or thelocal surface
normal and the global X-Y Plane very useful for ponding
check.This command will work only if thetri-mesh is present
and visible.
Stress Color: herethestress colors for S11 and S22 can
beinputted.
Source Color: this controls the various color coding for
Cables, Membranes, Beams, Trusses, boundary elements
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6.16.3 Response Plot
Response plot pane
Type of response:
Active:
Hereweselect which responsewewant tovisualize. Thereare
threebasic options from thepull-downmenu:
Form Find
Non Linear Analysis load cases
None
They canbeactivated by selecting theappropriateoption. This
does not work without running the corresponding nonlinear
analysis casefirst.
All other options inthis panearerelativetothetypeoption.
If we check the Tensile Membrane stresses these will be the
membraneprestress if form find is active, or themembrane
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stresses, if nonlinear analysis load caseis selected.
Reactions:
If selected - this shall plot the corresponding reaction forces -
These will be prestress reaction forces or Static Analysis
reactionforces.
Intheselected units which canbechanged from the. (model units
set by default).
The scale of plotted forces can be changed from the Scale
Factors ReactionForces. Input thescaleof theplot. Usually
this is kept quitelow toshow small arrows.
Thereis a valueintheSettings :Preferences : Metrics dialogue
box called Minimum ForceIntensity tovisualize(MF).
Any reactionforceR smaller thanMFwill not beprinted or plotted.
This optionis toavoid theprinting of small unbalanced forces
after nonlinear analysis duetoround off errors.
Thefinal reactionforces optionwill enableplot of reactions for
fixed nodes.
With themembranereactionforces optionall fixed nodes inthe
form finding or nonlinear analysis step will beplotted.
Note:
Always check the value of Minimum Force Intensity, to
visualize, if no reaction force is printed or plotted.
Deformed Shape: Dx-Dy Dz Displacements
Thesewill plot a colored surfaceand scalediagram with surface
displacements.Displacements will be visible only for NonLinear
Analysis Typeresponse.
Displacements inX, Y, Z directioncanbeplotted individually.
Displacements As abovea colored surface is plotted but the
surface is deformed. Works only for nonlinear analysis type
response.
Deformed Shape
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A deformed shape will be drawn over the current shape.The
Deformed shapescalefactor intheScaleFactors Panelets us
scalethedeformed shapefor better visualization.Works only for
NonLinear analysis typeresponse.
A wire-frameoptionis alsoavailablefor visualizationpurposes.
Membrane cable Response
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Herewevisualizeinformationabout themembranesurfaces.
All theseoptions will only work if triangle meshes have been
generated.
It is good practicetohidethetrianglemeshes beforeactivating
theseoptions toavoid plot confusion.
Membrane Stresses , Von Mieses, Linear
Stress
With this optionmembrane and principal stresses are
plotted with a smooth interpolating function. Membranestresses
arecalculated as equivalent constant stress ina uniform panel
(seetutorial n 1). Comparing Linear membraneand membrane
s11 stresses wecanseedifferent stress values. This is because
of thedifferent approach incalculating them and againbecause
Linear stresses arecalculated inthedirectionof themembrane
element whilemembranestresses arelocal maximum values.
Membranestress direction: This optionwill plot for each triangle
twosmall orthogonal lines where the maximum and minimum
stress directionhavebeencalculated.
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Membrane stress plot
S11 stress : Deals with stresses in the Warp or main
direction.
S22 stress : Deals with stresses intheWeft or subsidary
direction.
Linear Stress : Plots linear membrane stresses for the
structure.
VonMises : Plots Vonmises stresses of themembrane.
Stress Vectors : Plots stress vectors for theelements. This is
often useful to understand stresses - and how to pattern for
complex curved surfaces.
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Linear membrane stresses
This optionwill plot membraneelement stresses with a coloured
scale. Thestresses arecalculated as F/A whereFis thecurrent
Forceand A themembranecross area (seetutorial n1 tosee
how the cross section area for membranes is calculated).
Membraneelements areplotted as stripes with a fixed width W.
TheW parameter canbechanged from Settings : Options : Editor
Panel MembraneWidth.
Linear Membranestress plot
Cable / Beam Stresses
All cables are colored with a stress diagram.Stresses are
calculated as F/A whereFis theactual forceand A thecross
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sectionarea.
Contrary toearlier versions of Forten- now Cables and beam
elements both areanalysed ina non-linear behavior - thus they
haveoneplot option.
Cableelements will always haveonly AXIAL forces. This canbe
plotted by selecting "Axial" plot from thedrop-downmenu. It is a
good practisetoisolatethecableelements - or this plot shall plot
reactions for all linear elements including that of membrane.
Axial plot of only the boundary element.
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Axial plot of all members.
Shear T2 / T3 Combined Shear:
This optionshall plot theshear in2 and 3directionof thesection
orientation. Thevalues areplotted with text at either end and the
middleshowing thegradationinwhich theshear behaves.
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Torque:
This optionshall plot thebending moment duetotorsioninthe
section. Thevalues usually for tensile structures are quite low
sincemost of thesections aredesigned tobeinmajority axially
loaded and rarely torsionally loaded.
Moment M2 / M3, Combined Moment :
This optionshall plot thebending moment inthesectionalong the
axes 2 and 3. Thesearethemajor and minor axes of thesection.
Shell response plots :
Inadditiontothecapability of ixFortentoanalysenon-linear frame
elements, It alsohas thecapability of analyzing for plate/ shell
structures. This plot option deals with the plotting of Shear,
moment efforts inplanar meshed elements which aretreated like
shells.
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Export of Vector forces and BM Diagrams:
Oneof thevery user friendly options with ixFortenis that it exports
theplots to a DWG / DXF/ 3DM file for referencing. This is
extremely useful whenoneneeds tohavethevector directionfor
certainvectors todesignfor theend connections etc.
Example of export of an Autocad file with vector forces.
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7 Properties Tab
The properties Tab can be docked anywhere on the screen
but generally a good position is under the browser tree as in
figure.
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Code : a number toidentify it inthereports
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Type : cable,membrane,beam,truss and gap
Behaviour : Linear or non-Linear ( linear is valid only for beam
and truss element types )
Deformability : FDM-Deformable,NL-Deformable,L-
Deformable,Fixed.
C Value : [0+INF] theforcedensity value
Seed : a Cross Sectiongeometry and Material definition
Group Code : a user defined number useful for grouping
elements
Rotation Angle : angleindegrees of thefirst principleaxis
End restraint A,B : Only for beam elements
Warp-Weft direction : Used only by membraneelements
Keep Pretension flag : Keep user defined pretension
whileformfinding, valid only for NL-deformableelements
Pretension : User defined pretension ( valid only for NL-
deformableelements )
Constraints : Fixed Length, undeformed length and force
Code: This is a numeric valueused toidentify them.
Type : TheFEA typeused by this element.
Cable: only tensionelement, non-linear
Membrane : only tension element used to model
membranenets
Beam : compression,tension and bending stiffness.
Canbelinear or non-linear
Truss : compression, tension (called also Strut ).
Pinned element with axial stiffness only. Canbelinear or non-
linear.
Gap : compressiononly element, non-linear .
Behaviour : for beams and trusses only. Wecanspecify a linear
or a non-linear FEA element.
Deformability: This is VERY IMPORTANT flag to specify.
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Membraneand boundary cableelements aregenerally flagged as
FDM deformable ( they find a geometry from the form-finding
process) whilestay cables, beams,truss and gap elements are
generally NL-deformable( they havea predefined geometry but
deform under FEA stiffness analysis ).
C Value is theforcedensity value, theratioof theForceand the
Length of a element inthefinal shapeposition.
Form Finding a shapewherenoconstraints are used will be
processed in a single linear system of equations where the
equilibrium equations on node j in a net of elements with
connections ij are:
With :
Nij = Forceintheelement connecting nodes i - j
Lij = Length of element i-j

ThevalueNij/Lij nonlinear intheaboveequationis replaced by
Cij and solved ina singlestep.
Good starting values for Cij arenot difficult tofind out whenthe
initial prestress inthemembraneis known.
Generally, we do form finding many times to agree not only
membrane initial prestress values but even other aspects like
geometry , surfacecurvatureetc.
It is easy tounderstand that higher values of Cij will shortenthe
element and increaseits internal forcewhilelower values will
elongateit and result inlower forces.
C values depends ontheunits weareusing as it is a Forceona
Length ratio, sochanging system units generally needs anupdate
of C values too.
In the tutorials C values will be widely used to model fabric
structures and to establish the range of prestress. We must
always keep inmind that overall structurestiffness depends on
prestress and geometry , so if under loads our structure
undergoes largedisplacements evenwith high internal prestress,
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geometry should be checked and maybe changed due to bad
initial design.
Group Code : this is a user specified code. Elements with the
samegroup codeget grouped and inany reports wewill find
them ina unified row.
Rotation Angle : This is theangleof rotationof thelocal axis 2
around its default position. Rotationangles havea meaning only
for beam elements.
End restraint A,B : Beam elements areby default fully fixed to
their end nodes. We can release any degree of freedom to
simulatepinned or any special behaviour.
Warp-Weft direction : this flag is meaningful only for membrane
elements ina net grid. Thewarp/weft properties specified inthe
material will be applied accordingly to elements that have the
warp/weft flag assigned. Evenselectionof warp-weft curves uses
this flag toidentify elements.
Keep Pretension flag : This flag enables user defined pretension

Pretension : user defined pretension. Valid only for cable,truss
elements flagged as NL-Deformableand keep pretensionflag set
totrue. Whenrunning theForm-Find process theseelements will
start with thevalueassigned inthis field. Thereal pretensionwill
thenget computed after theform-finding step. This is a useful
starting valuetogive stiffness and avoid instability while form-
finding thestructure.
Constraints : Various constraints applied on cables. These
constraints will enablethesocalled non-linear FDM solver.
Donot useif not sureonhow they behave. Generally theseare
used toform-find complex cablesystems. they areNOTintended
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for fixed links betweena point and a membrane, for theselinks
weuse a normal cable set as NL-Deformable drawn at the
desired length.
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8 Browser Menu Commands
Active Group
Sometimes when explaining menu commands we have
mentioned theActive Group.
Generally speaking theActive Group is theoneonwhich the
command will beapplied if noother context canbeused.
To Activate a Group we simply click on its name in the tree
window ontheleft sideor select it from thedrop downlist box,
onceactivated its bounding box will behighlighted with a dashed
contour line.
Each group has a local pull downmenu.
This canbeviewed by:
Left click on the groups name in the tree view to
activate it
Right click in the tree view to show its local menu
8.1 Root Commands
Ontheroot local popup menu wefind general commands that are
duplicated ontheMenu.
8.1.1 Create Group
Add New Groups to the model
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Create Group: The first of the root menu items is
"CreateGroup". This duplicates thecommands of the"Create"
menu
Boundary Group
TensoGroup
Graphic group
Meshed TensoGroup
See the same Menu command.
Meshed Tenso Group
is a special command to create a standalone Tenso Group,
specifing its meshing parameters parametrically.
Tousethis command :
Select a closed polygon
Call the Add Meshed Tenso Group
Set the mesh parameters and click ok.
Thecreated TensoGroup has the mesh specified but isnt parametric
like Boundary Child Groups.
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8.1.2 Form Finding
Form Finding: This duplicates buttons on the "tensile
structure" menu.
Form Find
Pneumatic Options
Look at Tensile Structure Menu.
8.1.3 Analysis
Non Linear Analysis
Analysis: this has one option for running the non-linear
Analysis.
Look at Tensile Structure Non Linear Analysis
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8.1.4 Reports
Reports: This has someextra options for creating
a quick response.
Used Materials: This displays a quick list of materials and
seeds used inthemodel.
Volume info: This delivers the information about
Volumefor inflatablestructures.
Fast Reports Node reactions - gives nodereactions
for Form Find condition.
Element forces - gives element forces
for Form Find condition.
Node reactions - This returns values
for non-linear analysis.
Element forces - This returns values for
non-linear analysis.
Node displacements - This returns
values for non-linear analysis.
Membrane / Cables / Steel / Joints -
returns informationfor themembranequantity etc.
Deform Shape with current analysis
result - this deforms theform with thecurrent analysis - thus
giving a static form plot which canbeanalysed and exported for
further study.
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Look at Tensile Structure : Reports menu
8.1.5 FEM Export
FEM Export: This delivers options for a quick
export / import of entities forces etc.
Export Strand ASCII format This delivers a STRAND
interchangeableformat file.
Export CMP ASCII format This delivers a CMP
interchangeableformat file.
NodeDisplacements Delivers NodeDisplacements in
a CMP results file(.fls format)
Export CMP results file Exports a Fortenreactions file(.
frf format)
Import Reactionforces This shall import and merge
reaction forces from an existing Forten reactions file (.frf
format).
most of thesemodules areactiveonly with NLM is available.
8.2 Common Local Commands
They aretwokind of local commands : common and specialized
.
Commoncommands areexplained hereas they act inthesame
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way for all kind of groups,
specialized commands differ from one Group to another
depending onits typeand areexplained inother sections of this
document.
Changing Color: Changing thecolor of a group is
easy as ixFortenhas a iconat theright of each group which
shows what color thegroup has.
Change Name: Simply selecting a group and a
delayed click opens up thepossibility of re-naming thegroup.
Hide/Show objects Hide/unhideall objects owned by
thegroup (applies alsotosub groups) It is theyellow sunny
symbol at theright of thegroup name.
Freeze/Unfreeze Freeze / unfreeze the Group
(applies alsotosub groups). Whenfreezeis activethegroup
cannot bemodified nor points and objects canbeselected.
Delete Group Deletes the Group with all Sub
Groups.
Export 3DS Exports data in3D Studio Ascii
format. Only groups with tri-mesh sub groups will export
meaningful data.
Export CAD Exports a DWG / DXF/ 3DM file
with ALL informationcurrently visible. This means that sub
groups ina hiddenstatewill NOT bewrittentotheDXFfile.
Import CAD Import a CAD Fileinthegroup.
Used very oftenwith boundary and structuregroups.
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Someof theseparameters arealsocovered by thetop bar -
which canbeclicked after selecting thegroup onwhich the
command is supposed tobeoperated on.
8.3 Boundary Local Commands
Boundary local commands can be found only on the
popup menu and many of them are essential for working
with ixForTen
8.3.1 Boundary
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Find parts: Finds closed poly-line areas in
theboundary and adds corresponding tensogroups under the
boundary group.This command has tobeperformed beforethe
"set parameters and build"
command.
Exposed surface: This is a useful command to
calculate the area of the surface projected into a plane.A
dialogue box prompts for a vector direction and then the surface
area projection is
calculated.
A useful command for calculating covered
area of a membrane just input
Nx = 0.0
Ny = 0.0
Nz = 1.0
The response delivers the net exposed area.
Set frame as current UCS This is an extremely helpful
command for it changes themeshing domainfrom theworld
axes to a local axes which can be specified. This is a bit
redundant with thecurrent
nurbs based meshing options. Boundary and Tenso Groups
havea local referenceframe. This frameis a local coordinate
system wheregeometric algorithms arecarried out.
Toassigna frame, set thecurrent UCS system
toa desired place, and call this command.
For exampleif wewant tomakea vertical membranewall we
should set the UCS vertical parallel to the wall and call Set
ReferenceFrame for theboundary.
WhenBoundary : Find Parts command is called theboundary will
find all closed paths correctly.
If this is not done, a vertical wall thefrom top (default working
plane) degenerates intoa lineand thealgorithm fails tofind closed
paths .
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8.3.2 Find Parts
This is the most used Boundary Command.
A boundary group is generally a collectionof closed paths madeof
simplelines.Theseclosed regions, definehow many Child tenso
Groups will be created, each of them having different mesh
parameters
IntheFigureis anexampleof a boundary with twoclosed paths
(closed linear bluelines) wheretwoconical shapes have been
made.
We can eventually delete any Child-Group not needed but
BEFORE mesh generation.
If a group is deleted after mesh generationa Find Parts command
must becalled againtorebuild theinternal database.
8.3.3 Tenso Groups
Under theTenso-Groups Sub menu wefind Tenso-Group related
commands.
Thesecommands behaveinthesameway as thosefound inthe
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Tenso-Group local popup menu with the difference that the
command is called for each Child Tenso-Group.
Set parameters & build: This command is the same as
"make mesh" command except that when there are more than
one tenso groups under a boundary group - this command
reduces the time of creating
individual meshes by creating all of the child tenso-group
meshes with same options.
Make Mesh: This creates a qaud / trimesh for
all the tenso child groups.
Make Iso-curves: Creates a set of iso-curves or
contours at a certain defined spacing. This is helpful to
understand a doubly curved surface and study which areas are
flat or less curved.
Make section at UCS Creates a section at a user
defined UCS.
Swap Warp / Weft This swaps the warp / weft
direction thus enabling to shift the main stress direction.
8.3.4 Modify
Thereis only oneoptionunder modify - todeletethegroup. This
canalsobedonefrom thetop bar.
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8.3.5 Extended Export
Inadditiontotheregular export options of excel, txt, DXF, DWG,
3DM, ixFortenalsooffers export for advanced exports.
8.3.5.1 Win Rete
WinReteis a High Engineering Fem analysis software for non
linear special structures.
8.3.5.2 DXF Polylines
This command will only export the boundary generated cables
joined by thereGroup Code(SeeElement Properties) as polyline
entities.
This is useful for checking boundary cables insidea CAD system.
8.3.5.3 WaveFront Obj
This command will export all cables and TriangleMesh elements
inWaveFront *.obj. format.
Useful for importing thetensilestructureinrendering softwares
like3D StudioMax Viz LightWaveetc.
8.3.6 Import
This command imports a CAD filedirectly intothegroup.
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8.4 Tenso Local Commands
Tensogroups has about the same commands as a boundary
group. Thedifferent ones shall bediscussed below:
8.4.1 Set Frame as Current UCS
Boundary and TensoGroups havea local referenceframe.
This frame is a local coordinate system where geometric
algorithms areperformed.
Toassigna frameset thecurrent UCS system toa placerequired
and call this command.
in the above Figure six groups with different reference frames have been
defined.
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Note:
Tenso Groups do NOT share the Parent Boundary
Reference Frame.
This means that reference frames should be assigned to
Boundary groups and Tenso Groups as needed.
mesh Parameters
This is the most important command related to Child-Tenso
Groups.
Weset thetypeof mesh togenerate(grid conical) and relative
parameters.
8.4.2 Make boundary Edge
Whileimporting a mesh surfacetheelements areconverted as
discreet elements - to which properties can be assigned. But
ixFortenneeds tohaveanoverlapping boundary element inthe
event that there is a cable edge in addition to the membrane
boundary. This command easily duplicates the boundary edge
element.
8.4.3 Make Mesh
This command will rebuild thetrianglemesh for thegroup.
A trianglemesh is necessary for :
Surface Loading
Surface stresses
Visualization
Patterning
Iso Curve generation
Section Generation
It is clear from theabovelist that Trianglemeshes arethebasis
for a widerangeof commands and algorithms.
It is important tounderstand that meshing is donewith a plane
triangulationalgorithm intheLocal ReferenceFrame.
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This means that if thesurfaceoverlaps or is vertical inthis plane
thetriangulationwill fail.
This canhappenevenfor a singletriangle.
It is good practicetocheck thetrianglesurfacewith theshaded
command, if thereareholes or strangetriangles overlapping we
havetocorrect theproblem beforedoing anything else.
Triangle mesh correction can be done using different
techniques:
Change the mesh
Inthemesh properties wecanmakea littlechange
For exampleGrid size.95 instead of 1.0 or change the rotation angle
by 1 degree.
Change of Local reference frame
Oftena better referenceframewill solvetheproblem.
Thereis a simpleproceduretocheck theReferenceframe.
Set the UCS in the desired place
Call the View : Line up to UCS
Inthis view thesurfacewearechecking should not overlap
Closing holes manually
If noneof theabovetricks work thelast thing todois toclosethe
holes by hand with theCreateTriangle.
Set theTrianglemesh as visible
Activatetheshadecommand toseetheholes
Call theCreateTriangle
Click onthreenodes tocreatea new triangle
After generating triangles by hand check their
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orientation with the View :Options : Visualize : Element
Direction and eventually swap normal vectors with the
Edit:Orientation command.
8.4.4 Make Iso Curves
Makeisocurves will ask for a distanceD (incurrent length units)
and cut thesurfacehorizontally starting from thesmallest Z value
and increasing height by D. For every cutting plane, necessary
polylines arecreated.
The polylines can be used also for patterning purposes.
Note: This command only works when a triangular
surface is present
8.4.5 Make Section at UCS
Sections are very useful for checking the surface in different
points.
Thecommand asks for a nameand thencuts thesurfacewith the
current X-Y UCS planegenerating a number of poly lines.
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IntheFigure2 sections havebeencreated, thesecanbeexported
inDXFtodesignor check heights.
Tousethecommand placetheUCS system inthedesired place.
Note:
Triangular mesh is needed for the command to work
8.4.6 Mesh Parameters
This is the most important command related
to Child-Tenso Groups.
Weset thetypeof mesh togenerate(grid conical) and relative
parameters.
A dialoguebox with twopanes compares :
Grid Mesh
Conical Mesh
Closing thedialoguebox using ok with theGrid Mesh paneactive
assigns a grid mesh tothetenso-group whilea conical mesh is
assigned if theactivepaneis Conical Mesh
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8.4.6.1 Grid Mesh Parameters
A Grid mesh is a net madeby warp and weft lines, theboundary is
filled using warp grid size X weft grid sizemesh.
Thewarp directionlies parallel tothegroups frameX axis if Angle
toX Axis valueis zero.
This angle (in degrees) will rotate counterclockwise the warp
direction.
Warp and Weft C values areset for all warp and weft lines.
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IntheExtended parameters wehavecontrol over thestarting X
and Y position.
Warp and Weft offset will move by the value imposed in the
relativedirection. This featureis useful whenweneed tocorrect
bad meshes giving a littlechangeinthemesh.
Warp and Weft at fixed positionwill ovveridethegeneral rulefor
themesh generator wich will start at thecenter of theboundary.
With this optionset thefirst warp (weft) linewill becreated at
position0.
8.4.6.2 Conical Mesh Parameters
In this pane we set parameters for generating a conical
(or polar) mesh.
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Thecenter of themesh is set with theConical Control command
by default thecenter of theboundary profile.
Themesh is madeof parallel and meridianlines.
Parallel lines (or warp lines) arecontrolled by theedge size value.

N of radial points control how many points aregenerated from
thecenter of theconetotheboundary edge.
Ring and Meridian values aretheC values assigned tothe
mesh
Automatic Mast
No Mast : nocenter pole
Non Linear Mast : generatea polemadeof trusses
Linear Mast : generatea polemadeof beams
Thecenter holeradius sets thesizeof theholeincurrent length
units.
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There is also the possibility of using the older Forten 2000
meshing parameters for specific designproblems.
Ring Sub-division: Divides the head-ring into X
no. of sub-divisions
Meridian Size: Gives the spacing of the
meridian elements.
Ring C-values: Assigns C-values to the ring
elements.
Meridian C-values: Assigns C-values to the
meridian elements.
Start Angle: Can alter the start of the polar
meshing domain by entering an angle.
Centre hole radius: This value sets the size of the
head-ring.
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8.4.7 Make Grid/Polar Mesh
This command will generated theparametric Grid or Polar mesh
defined with theMesh Params Command .
(SeeMesh Params)
8.4.8 Extended Export
Enter topic text here.
8.4.8.1 Winrete Format
WinRete is a High Engineering Fem analaysis software for
nonlinear special structures.
8.4.8.2 Wave Front obj
Herewecanexport inAlias WaveFront *.obj.
Thedifferencebetweenthis command and theBoundary Export
command is that here only the current group will be exported
whereas from theBoundary group all TensoGroups arewrittenin
thefile.
8.5 Patterns Local Commands

8.5.1 Export HPGL
After prompting for a filenamepatterns aresaved inhpgl format.
Filesettings for HPGL canbefound intheSettings : Preferences
HPGL pane.
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9 Step by Step Tutorials
9.1 Simple Saddle Shape
Tomemorizesomebasic features wewill doa simple saddle
shapeinthis tutorial.
Wewill learnherehow todynamically rotate, zoom and panthe
views.
Kilograms and metres will beused as system units.
9.1.1 Setup
Step 1 : opening the file - setting the parameters.
OpenthefileForTenPath\tutorials\tutorial1\tutorial_0.tns
Step 2: Making Bound & mesh:
Step 2 canbeeffected inthreedifferent ways:
Option 1:
Call theCreateBoundary Group tocreatea boundary group.
From theBoundary Group local popup menu (left mouseclick on
thenameof theboundary group toactivateit and right mouseclick
for thelocal popup menu) Import Cad .
Read inthefileForTenPath\tutorials\tutorial1\bnd.dwg
You will now see4 lines describing a boundary onyour screen-
they shall beunder theBound 1 group.
Option 2:
Call import from theFilemenu / import button.
Read inthefileForTenPath\tutorials\tutorial1\bnd.dwg
A dialog box will openup showing thelayers inthedwg fileonthe
left. Click onthelayer named "Bound_1" selecting it.
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Click onthe"Boundary" button.
Click okay.
You will now see4 lines describing a boundary onyour screen-
they shall beunder theBound_1 1 group.
Option 3:
Call import from theFilemenu / import button.
Read inthefileForTenPath\tutorials\tutorial1\bnd.dwg
A dialog box will openup showing thelayers inthedwg fileonthe
left. Click onthelayer named "Bound_1" selecting it.
Click onthe"graph-group" button.
Click okay.
You will now see4 lines describing a boundary onyour screen-
they shall beunder the"Bound_1" group.
Usethecreate-> quad mesh command tocreatea quad mesh.
9.1.2 Step 3: Zooming & Panning
Wecanseea very simpleshapeinall views.
Lets usesomebasic interactivetools :
Dynamic space-ball
Left or right click intheparallel view toactivateit
Right click downfor a while- and keeping it pressed, movethe
mouse
Holding and dragging themouseenables us to rotatethemodel

If wedothesamesteps with a view inprojectionmode(top,
bottom,left,right,front,back) instead of rotating the view, the pan
tool is activated and wecanmovethewindow
Zoom
Thezoom tool is always enabled with themouseroller
Zoom to Fit
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Toseeall elements inthemodel theZoom All command is used
View ToolBar Zoom All
This command will affect theactivewindow if any.
Zoom Window
Zoom window is a another useful command :
View ToolBar Zoom Window
Left mouseclick and releaseonthefirst corner
Left mouseclick and releaseonthesecond corner
Tocontinuelets maximizetheparallel view :
Left or right mouseclick toactivatetheparallel view
Window Tool-Bar Maximize\Minimizewindow command
Wehavenow a singlewindow onvideo, repeating thecommand
will bring us back tofour window layout.
9.1.3 Step 4 :Node properties
Node properties
Lets havea look at theboundary nodeproperties :
Click show / hidenodes buttonat theright top corner of view
toolbar.
Whentheiconlooks likethis thenodes will beshown.
Whentheiconlooks likethis thenodes will behidden
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Select a few nodes using theselect window command.
Inthis tutorial weareonly interested intheform finding restraint
and as wecanseeit is already set tofixed for theboundary nodes
(default valuefor boundary nodes).
A fixed nodewill not moveduring form find and a reactionforcewill
be present while a free node will move (partial DOFs
DOF==degreeof freedom canbeset too).
9.1.4 Step 5 : Checking Dimensions.
It is usually advisable to check the boundary that has been
imported if it is of correct dimensions.
Using thedimensiontool click ononenode.
Movethecursor totheother end that you want tomeasure.
Click at thesecond node. This will giveyou a dimensioninthe
bottom infobar.
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9.1.5 Step 6 : Find Parts
Finding boundary parts
Each boundary should bemadeup of oneor moreclosed paths,
thecommand that detects them and creates Child TensoGroups
is Boundary local Popup Menu Find Parts.
After calling this command wewill seeunder theboundary item a
number of sub-items named TnsX Y whereX is a consecutive
number from 1 to the number of closed paths and Y is the
Boundary Father index.
Inour exampleonly theTns1 1 will becreated as wehaveone
closed path.
9.1.6 Step 7 : Meshing
Tenso Group Meshing
TensoGroups areintended for modelling membrane surfaces,
cablenets or cabletrusses.
A number of commands arerelated totheseneeds.
Lets createa grid mesh :
Right click ontheBoundary -> TensoGroup -> Set parameters &
build. Thedialoguebox inFigurewill comeup.

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Fig 4 : Mesh options.
Input thevalues :
Warp grid size= 0.5 meter
Weft grid size= 0.5 meter
Warp Tensionfactor = 300 (C valuefor warp grid)
Weft Tensionfactor = 300 (C Valuefor weft grid)
Angletoglobal axis = 0
And click Okay.
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Weshould seeas inFig.5
Fig 5 a flat mesh.
Unhidethenodes from thehide/unhidenodes button.
It is clear that all nodes havenorestraints sothey arefreetomove
toagreethefinal balanced shape.
Also- thefour extremenodes haveautomatically beenrestrained.
9.1.7 Step 8 : Element properties
Element properties
Now wewill assignelement properties toboundary elements and
internal mesh elements.
Boundary element properties
Click onBound toactiveit (current group)
Openthefilter dialoguebox Menu Select Filter or Selection
Toolbar:Filter. Thefilter dialoguebox enables/disables selection
of flagged elements. Always check thestateof selectionflags if
selectionproblems occur.
ActivatetheBoundary flag (checked) sowecanselect boundary
elements
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Call theSelect All command from themenu bar or Selectiontool
bar.
Alternatively you canshow / hide particular groups and then
doubleclick them toselect them.
All boundary elements change color to yellow (the current
selection color can be changed in Settings:Preferences
SelectionColor)
Now wewant tochangetheselected element properties sowe
must put theactivecontext toSelected
Wecanjust set theproperties from theproperty paneor call the
Edit-->properties command
Thedialoguebox showninFig. 6 appears whereinthefirst panel
(types and seed) wecanset theelement typeand seed.
Click oncabletype
Select cable_10seed
Wehavejust assigned a cabletypeof 10mm steel diameter to
boundary elements.
Set C Valueto2000( this is theforcedensity valuefor boundary
cables).
Tenso Group Mesh element properties
Call theClear current Selectioncommand Menu Select :Node
or Alt+N or Select Toolbar :None
Click onTns1 1 nametoactivateit (current group)
Click ontheSelect All command Menu Select :All or Select
Toolbar :All
TheGrid changes color toYellow
Call theEdit : Properties command or set theproperties directly
intheproperty pane
Set TypetoMembrane, Material as Ferrari 1002 and C Value
equal 300
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9.1.8 Step 9 : Form Finding
Weareready for theform find step sowecanjust call theForm
Finder procedure Menu TensileStructure:Form Find or Modify
Toolbar : Form Find
After analysis theshapevisibleinFig.8 should bevisible.
Thefinal fileis placed inForTenPath\tutorials\tutorial1\tutorial_4.
tns


Fig.8 saddleshapeafter form-finding

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9.1.9 Step 10 : Query Results
We have a initial shape so the next step is to plot useful
informationand query results.
Themost used command toplot informationis from the"Plots"
tab.
Theview option parameters are view related, this means that
each view has its ownset of properties. This is useful as weare
abletoplot different kinds of informationin different views and
keep them inview at thesametime.
Fig. 9 Plot options dialoguebox. Responsepanel
First we will plot reaction forces on restrained nodes :
Intheplot tab
Select type:Form Find Response
Check Draw ReactionForces "true"
Click "refresh View"
Turnonwire-framerendering from View menu : Shaded/Wire-
frame command
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Weshould seethereactionforces as inFig. 10
Fig. 10reactionforceplot
Themodel wehavemadehas a reactionof 3422.8775 Kg ineach
node(Kg becauseweareworking with Kilograms tochangeunits
seeSettings:Preferences:Units panel).
Stress plot
Membranestresses canbeplotted intwodifferent ways
Linear membranestresses
Surfacestresses
Wesaw that membraneelements donot need a cross section
definition. Wewill explainnow how membraneelement width is
calculated.
After form-finding we have the final stresses surface and all
lengths areknown.
InFig. 11 weseea nodeN inthefinal configuration
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Red nodes arecalculated by intersectionof lines passing through
middlecablepoints q .
Thedark bluepatch onnodeN is calculated and width w is
assigned tocableC as its cross sectionwidth.
Thelinear membranestress thenis calculated as
S= F/ w
Where S = stress valueinKg/meter
F= cableforceinKg
W = cablecross sectionwidth inmeters
Toplot linear stress values
Call theplot options dialoguebox (Fig 9)
Check Form Find responsebutton
Check linear membranestresses button
Click Ok
Wewill seethestress plot as inFig.12.
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Fig.12 Linear membranestress plot
Weunderstand from thecolors that wehavea meanprestress of
about 100Kg/m intheinternal mesh (1 Kg/cm)
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Surface stresses
Surfacestresses arecalculated ina different way Fig.13
Fig.13
with thematrix operation
= TF : membranestresses
F= [ F1 F2 F3]

T= ForceToStress Matrix Transform

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Fig. 14 stress toforcematrix calculation
Themembranestresses ij inthetrianglewith linear forces Fi are
calculated as equivalent constant stresses.
ForTenwill plot the main 1 - 2 stresses and their principal
directionaxis as inFig 14,15,16.
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Fig.14 membrane1 pre-stress plot
Fig. 15 membrane2 pre-stress plot
Fig16 principal stress directions
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Comparing linear stresses from Fig.12 and surfacestresses from
Fig.14 it is easy toseethat therangeof prestress of 100-110kg/m
is thesame.
Toplot surfacestresses :
Makethetri-mesh for each tensogroup if not yet done
Hidethetri-mesh (tri-mesh plot will overdraw stresses)
InthePlots tab box check themembrane11 ( 22 or stress
direction)
Check theForm Find responsefrom thedrop-downmenu.
Click Ok
9.1.10 Step 11 : Printed Reports
We can ask for printed reports for analysis verification or
tecnical paper purposes .
Call thecommand Info: Report Manager
Under theitem FFResponse
wewill find
PretensionReactions = reactionforces for restrained nodes
FFMembrane= Linear elements pretension( sameas Linear
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stress plot )
FF Cable = Pretensionvalues for cableelements
FFSteel = Forces acting onsteel elements if any inour
model
FFMembraneMesh = membranes11 and s22 stresses
Under FFCablewewill find a item named FFStrand
Herewecanfind informationfor Boundary cables grouped by
code(seeGroup code)
9.1.11 Step 11 : Scale Factors
Whenplotting informationit is oftennecessary tochangescale
values for a clear plot.
Most used scalefactors havebeengrouped intheplot tab with the
plot options - anexampleis shownbelow:
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Fig. 19 scaleplot options
These are for Membrane-Cable elements :
Reaction Forces : Similar toload scale factor but used for
nodereactions whenreactionforces areplotted
Deformed shape scale factor : node displacements are
amplified by this factor whendeformed shapes areplotted on
video.
Membrane stresses / direction : This factor controls
membrane surface stresses (s11, s22, von-mieses, linear
stresses) & directions (that areplotted with twoorthogonal lines
parallel toprincipal stress directions). Thesizeof theselines
and the range of the plot are proportional the the stresses
reduced by this scalefactor.
Load scale factor : This factor is covered under the"options"
tab. Thefactor with which loads areplotted. For examplea load
of 5000Kg with a factor of 1.0will beplotted 5000units .
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For Beams :
Axial Forcescale
Shear inPlane2
Shear inPlane3
Torquefactor
Bending Moment Plane2
Bending Moment Plane3
Beams havea local coordinatesystem of axis placed inthemass
center of their cross section.
Axis 1 is thelineconnecting node1 and node2 and oriented from
1 to2 .
Axis 2 and 3areintheplanenormal toaxis 1. Theorientationof
axis 2 canbecontrolled by theRotationAngleproperty found in
theelement property dialoguebox (seeFig. 7).
Fig. 20beam local axis
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10 Video Tutorials
10.1 N1 : Simple Saddle shape
Inthis videotutorial a doubleconical shapewill bemodeled.
10.2 N2 : Making a pagoda
Inthis videotutorial a pagoda with steel will bemodeled.
Wait until the video loads if you don't see anything
10.3 N3 : Model a cone in 3 steps
Inthis videoa coneis modeled in3steps
10.4 N4 : Model mangement
A videotutorial onmodel management features
10.5 N5 : Making a vault model

A videotutorial onhow tomodel a vault

10.6 N6 : Making a double cone
Modeling a doubleconewith central mast
10.7 N7 : Adding steel support
A videoonhow steel frameis added toa existing model

10.8 N8 : Using Gaps
Inthis videotutorial wewill seehow gaps areused tomodel a
membraneover a fixed arch.
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Wait until the video loads if you don't see anything
10.9 N9 :Example of nonlinear analysis

In this tutorial we will make a analysis over the double
cone modeled in tutorial n 6
10.9.1 Wind Load Analysis
Generally the most involved part in the analysis of a
tensile structure is its behaviour under wind load.
To compute wind load effects over a complex surface,
country norms have some basic formulas where many
factors have to be computed based on height of the
structure, exposition to wind , distance from sea,
surrounding terrain and so on.
We will report here how the wind effects are computed in
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the Italian codes. There is no special chapter on Tensile
Structures so we have to adapt the formulas for other
types of buildings to our case.
So here is what the codes give for a wind action on our
model :
The codes report that at least 2 different load cases have
to be taken in account with wind direction coming at 90
each other.
Of course in real calculations many times more than 2
load cases will be done for complex surfaces where there
is no distinction between two main surface curvatures.
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10.9.2 Cp factors

In the figures we can see how we expose the surface to
wind and Cp values we are going to use in both cases.
Here is a simplification of cp values for clarity purposes
Wind direction from bottom to top
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wind direction from left to right
10.9.3 Loading the model
Inthis videowewill load themodel using as CP values :
Cp + = 0.3
Cp - = -0.7
and trough thewind load scripting tool create2 load conditions
Wind X
Wind Y
10.9.4 Analysis & Results
In the Video we will run analysis for the 2 load cases
created in previous step and view results

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10.10 N10:Patterning a saddle shape
Inthis videotutorial wewill seehow patterning saddleshapes is
achieved.
10.11 N11:Patterning A cone
10.12 No12: Making a hexagonal headring
Inthis videotutorial a hexagonal structurewith a hexagonal head-
ring is shown.
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11 Bibliography
1971, P.Matildi C.Foti A.Sollazzo,Tensostrutture e sistemi
reticolari spaziali,Italsider ,Milano
1972, OttoFrei,Tensostrutture,2 Vol.,EditoreUisaa,Milano
1985, JohnWilliam Leonard , TensionStructures, Behaviour
and Analisis,McGraw Hill Book Company , New York
1984, Francesco Abbate,Sollecitazione e forma, Fratelli
Fiorentino,Napoli
1985, Massimo Majowiecki ,Tensostrutture: progetto e
verifica, Cisia,Milano
2004, Tensinet, "EuropeanDesignGuidefor TensileSurface
Structures"
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